London in space and time: Peter Ackroyd and Will Self
Andrew Green
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Abstract
This paper explores the treatment of London by two authors who are profoundly influenced by the concept of the power of place and the nature of urban space. The works of Peter Ackroyd, whose writings embody, according to Onega (1997, p. 208) " [a] yearning for mythical closure" where London is "a mystic centre of power" -spiritual, transhistorical and cultural -are considered alongside those of Will Self, who explores the city's psychogeography as primarily a political, economic and cultural artefact. The paper draws on original interviews undertaken by the author with Ackroyd and Self. Both authors' works are available for literary study during the 16-19 phase in the UK, and this paper explores how personal delineations of the urban environment are shaped by space and language. It goes on to consider how authors' and students' personal understandings of space and place can be used as pedagogical and theoretical lenses to "read" the city in the 16-19 literature classroom.
Key takeaways
- And beyond this, what are the respective roles of writers and readers (including teachers and students) in constructing the meaning of place and space through literary texts?
- Naturally, such an approach also has many possibilities in exploring the creation and reception of urban space within literary text.
- Readers draw upon three levels of meaning in relation to place/space when they approach literary texts:
- For Self, however, the narrative method of the book reflects the city and the inhabitants of the city it seeks to represent and is not simply a programmatic response to previous literary representations of the city.
- Pedagogies that actively require students to utilise their own lived experiences of the city in their readings of urban texts engage them in critical dialogue, not only with literary representations of the city, but also with themselves and learners and readers and with the city itself.
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This paper explores the treatment of London by two authors who are profoundly influenced by the concept of the power of place and the nature of urban space. The works of Peter Ackroyd, whose writings embody, according to Onega (1997, p. 208) "[a] yearning for mythical closure" where London is "a mystic centre of power"-spiritual, transhistorical and cultural-are considered alongside those of Will Self, who explores the city's psychogeography as primarily a political, economic and cultural artefact. The paper draws on original interviews undertaken by the author with Ackroyd and Self. Both authors' works are available for literary study during the 16-19 phase in the UK, and this paper explores how personal delineations of the urban environment are shaped by space and language. It goes on to consider how authors' and students' personal understandings of space and place can be used as pedagogical and theoretical lenses to "read" the city in the 16-19 literature classroom.
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