Product Description

Highly original and magnificent in scope, Ackroyd's latest work discovers the roots of English cultural history in the Anglo-Saxon period, and traces it through the centuries.What does it mean to be English? This dazzling book demonstrates that a quintessentially English quality can be discovered in all forms of English culture, not only in literature but also in painting, music, architecture, philosophy and science. Just as "London: The Biography" guided the reader through the capital city with a mixture of narrative and theme, so "Albion", employing the same techniques, engages the reader with stories and surprises - from Beowulf to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, via Chaucer and Shakespeare, to the Bronte sisters, 'Alice through the Looking Glass' and 'Lord of the Rings'. "Albion" moves from medieval mystery plays to music hall and pantomime; painting is here, with Hogarth and Turner; and music, with Purcell and Vaughan Williams. Even the English obsession with gardening is represented. Witty, provocative and anecdotal, this is Peter Ackroyd at his most brilliant and exuberant.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #212474 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Nobody is better equipped to write a book about the roots of the English imagination than the award-winning novelist, biographer, poet and critic Peter Ackroyd, and in Albion he has distilled a lifetime's work into a book of monumental proportions. This is a dense, poetic book about the origins of the English literary imagination, stretching from Beowulf through Shakespeare to the novels of Virginia Woolf and the music of Vaughan Williams.

Ackroyd confesses that "there is no certain description" of the English imagination. As a result the structure of this massive, learned book shares affinities with his recent bestselling biography of London. Specific themes and preoccupations are repeatedly weaved through short, sometimes allusive chapters as Ackroyd traces "the conflation of biography, or history, and the novel" across the evolution of "a mixed language comprised of many different elements and a mixed culture comprised of many different races". The result is a rich poetic tapestry that moves from an exploration of the cadences of Old English poetry to the creation of the modern English language in the work of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Defoe and the great novelists of the 18th century. Ackroyd resists polemical definitions, but repeatedly returns to themes that for him create a quintessentially English imagination. These include a fascination with "the local and the circumstantial", "the English genius for assimilation and adaptation", and the recurrent interest in biography and landscape.

Ackroyd is at his best when establishing poetic connections and continuities between modern and medieval writers, but at times his reflections on the national spirit uncomfortably evoke the conservative nationalist historians of the 19th century. His inclusive vision of what he sees as the English imagination's "placism, as an antidote to racism" is unconvincing, as are his comments on his awkward formulation "femality and fiction". It would have been fascinating to see him develop these ideas through late 20th century transformations in the English imagination, but even without this (and at over 500 pages, the book is weighty enough already), Albion will delight many who regard Ackroyd as one of the most quintessentially English writers of his time. --Jerry Brotton

Daily Telegraph
'Albion is an explosion, full of particles whizzing through air-crammed, digressive, learned, knotted'

From the Publisher
Peter Ackroyd follows LONDON: THE BIOGRAPHY with a book which is equally original and even more magnificent in scope: it covers the whole of English cultural history from its roots in the Anglo-Saxon period, through the centuries, to numerous entertaining examples from our own times.

Customer Reviews

Enjoyable page turner, but doesn't bear close scrutiny
Ackroyd has achieved wide popular appeal with his literate brand of historical fiction so you would expect this to be a lively, readable and interesting run through this huge subject -and it is. The short chapters, each neatly encapsulating an often weighty idea, make it a real page turner packed with fascinating observations. Unfortunately, scholarly it is not. Ackroyd makes great claims for the seamless progression of cultural motifs unique to the English, and yet never demonstrates they ARE unique by comparisons with other countries. Are we, for example, to believe the study of German history over the centuries has been a disspasionate scholarly exercise that does not seek to construct national myth and identity, as have the English? Of course not! He is also very selective with his evidence: often a single 20th century example is cited to demonstrate that a certain preoccupation of the Saxon mind is alive and well. Perhaps much of what he says on literature is valid despite the rather hurried approach and he clearly has great passion for the subject. He falls down, however, on painting and music which are given scarce coverage while the architecture sections are full of inaccuracies and misconceptions (possibly a result of the very superficial reading the bibliography suggests) as is his one chapter on garden design. Having said all this, its immensely enjoyable and gives much food for thought.

Entertaining as ever
I'm not much of areader of pop history but I love Peter Ackroyd. He is a novelist who writes like a history professor and an historian who writes like a novelist. I must admit I mostly prefer his non-fiction. I first came across him when he was recommending Michael Moorcock's work in a review in the Sunday Times and it's odd how the two men resonate so closely.
Moorcock wrote about Albion and Doctor Dee, British musical hall and Mother London and all these themes are taken up by Ackroyd, whose sympathy with the great visionaries (and Moorcock is without doubt one of the great English visionaries) is well known. After reading Albion I found myself reaching for Moorcock's Gloriana again (this is set in a Platonic London, capital of Albion) and knowing the two men to be friends was fascinated to see how one takes a particular ball and runs with it, throwing it back to the other. If you enjoyed Albion, which is a fanciful, fantastic history of Old England, you'll certainly love Gloriana and vice versa. Yes, there is a modern school of English letters and Ackroyd, Iain Sinclair, Alan Wall,
M.J.Harrison and a few others are at the core of it. If you don't believe me, try them for yourself!

heavy going!
I wish I'd chosen Simon Sharma I'm afraid! This book is very heavy going for the non academic historian. I managed to get a quarter of the way through it though, although the historical evidence for its presumptions were a little weak. I felt that the reference to it being particular to the English Imagination, as opposed to european, was woolly. I dont think I will reach the middle let alone the end, as continuity and captivation were poor....sorry, obviously a lot of research went into it, and perhaps an academic historian may find it more useful.