"Biographers are simply novelists without imagination": in one of the fanciful interchapters of his biography Dickens (1990), Peter Ackroyd imagines hearing this sentiment from Charles Dickens. The st...
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Peter Ackroyd's novels and biographies have consistently hovered on the boundaries of conventional literary form. While his historical novels characteristically assume the disguise of an imaginary j...
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In the following review of Hawksmoor, Rykwert praises Ackroyd's literary skill, but finds flaws in the novel's historical details.
Christchurch, Spitalfields: St George-in-the-East; St A...
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In the following unfavorable review of English Music, Buchan objects to Ackroyd's sentimental literary pastiche and the postmodern notion that originality is no longer possible.
This novel star...
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In the following essay, Finney provides an overview of Ackroyd's theoretical development and postmodern perspective—particularly his view of history, language, and authenticity, as revea...
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In the following review of English Music, Taylor finds irritating shortcomings in Ackroyd's didacticism and antiquarianism, but declines to pass final judgment on the novel.
We read Peter Ackro...
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In the following review, Goodrich offers an unfavorable assessment of English Music.
Peter Ackroyd, the English novelist and biographer, has published nearly a dozen books, among them Dickens: Life an...
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In the following review, Klinkenborg offers an unfavorable evaluation of English Music.
In Peter Ackroyd’s sixth novel, English Music, a great thickness of remembered time lies over the English...
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In the following review, Levenson traces the development of Ackroyd's literary preoccupations and criticizes his conservative nostalgia for English history and cultural identity as presented in...
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In the following review, Clute offers a positive assessment of The House of Doctor Dee.
At first glance, the title of Peter Ackroyd’s seventh novel, and the fourth to be named after a real pers...
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In the following review, King concludes that The House of Doctor Dee is an “imperfect but always ingenious and arresting novel.”
Scientist, mathematician, geographer, astronomer, antiqua...
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In the following excerpt, Davenport pans English Music for its condescending attitude and its contrived and unconvincing nature.
Is there life after postmodernism? We may soon find out, for signs of t...
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In the following essay, Peck provides an overview of the major literary themes and postmodern narrative effects in Ackroyd's fiction, including extended analysis of Hawksmoor, Chatterton, and F...
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In the following review of Chatterton, Roberts finds shortcomings in the dubious intellectual games and caricatures of Ackroyd's postmodern narrative.
Just as Georgette Heyer may be said to hav...
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In the following review, Meyer offers a positive assessment of The Trial of Elizabeth Cree.
In the literary pantheon the mystery or detective novel is largely relegated to an inferior rung on the ladd...
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In the following review, Wood offers an unfavorable evaluation of The Trial of Elizabeth Cree and Ackroyd's fiction in general, which he views as contrived, overly derivative, and unsubtle.
His...
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In the following interview, originally conducted on November 23, 1995, Ackroyd discusses his early life, his literary influences, his development from poet to novelist and biographer, and his views on...
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In the following review, Broughton offers a generally favorable assessment of Milton in America, though he notes that it “is not a perfect novel.”
In the unlikely event that he ran out o...
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In the following review, Clute offers a tempered assessment of Milton in America, which, he concludes, “is a hard book to judge.”
It is his most presumptuous act of possession to date, P...
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In the following review, Bauer offers a positive evaluation of Blake.
William Blake remains, for many readers, a distant, imposing figure. Those who enjoy his poetry are usually familiar with the earl...
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In the following review, Hutchings offers a favorable assessment of The Trial of Elizabeth Cree.
With the detailed knowledge of Victorian London that was reflected in his biography of Charles Dickens,...
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In the following review, Ward finds Ackroyd's biography of Blake lacking in original research and insight, but concludes that, despite its shortcomings, it represents a positive contribution to...
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In the following review, Glover offers an unfavorable assessment of The Life of Thomas More.
It seems a long time since Peter Ackroyd published his last book, a novel about the surprising appearance o...
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In the following review, Fulwiler offers a positive evaluation of Blake.
Effectively interweaving recurring topics of religion, spiritual matters, visions, the Bible, and the autodidacticism of Willia...
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In the following interview, Ackroyd discusses his literary career, his imaginative historical fiction, and the interrelationship between his work as a biographer and novelist.
At 38, Peter Ackroyd has...
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In the following review, Korn offers an unfavorable assessment of The Plato Papers.
Times when blind men into ditches lead the blind. … The 1920s and 30s may be fine examples of political myopi...
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In the following essay, Koos discusses elements of pastiche and the detective novel genre in Ackroyd's fiction, particularly as found in Chatterton.
Lönnrot thought of himself as a pure ...
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In the following interview, Ackroyd discusses his recovery from a near-fatal heart attack and comments on his literary career, personal life, and recent writings.
Having heard that Peter Ackroyd had j...
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In the following review, Green offers an extended negative evaluation of The Plato Papers and comments unfavorably on Ackroyd's postmodern aesthetic.
I.
What drives anyone to speculate, or, wor...
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In the following review, Self offers praise for London.
In a decade that has seen two large and structurally sound pillars erected in the ever-expanding historiographic monument of London—Roy P...
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In the following review of Chatterton, Neve commends Ackroyd's commitment to “the limitless power of the imagination,” though he finds fault in the novel's historical skept...
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In the following excerpted review, McClatchy offers a negative assessment of Ackroyd's poetry in The Diversions of Purley and Other Poems.
Peter Ackroyd’s The Diversions of Purley is, in...
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In the following review, Firchow offers a positive assessment of Chatterton.
Peter Ackroyd is rapidly becoming the next novelist to watch. One sign of his newly acquired status is the appearance of Ch...
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In the following review of Dickens, Sutherland expresses reservations about Ackroyd's reconstruction and interpretation of Charles Dickens's life.
In the manner of old Hollywood movies, ...
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In the following review of Dickens, Pritchard finds shortcomings in Ackroyd's “rhetorical habits” and the biography's contribution toward greater understanding of Charles D...
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In the following review, Lerner provides a brief assessment of Ackroyd's Introduction to Dickens.
Literary biographers are naturally committed to the view that an author’s life provides ...
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Peter Ackroyd
