Peter Ackroyd

Historia de la homosexualidad, de los romanos a nuestros días.Con ilustraciones en b/n.No hay nadie que sepa tanto sobre Londres como Peter Ackroyd. En ningún sentido. Y ahora, con Londres Gay, ha observado la metropolis de una manera completamente nueva: a traves de la historia y las experiencias de su poblacion homosexual.En el Londinium romano, el pene era adorado y la homosexualidad se consideraba admirable. La ciudad estaba salpicada de Lupanarias (casas de lobos o casas de placer publicas), fornices (burdeles) y thermiae (baños calientes). Siglos mas tarde, el emperador Constantino, con sus obispos y clerigos, monjes y misioneros, promulgo las primeras leyes contra las practicas homosexuales.Lo que siguio fue un ciclo interminable de permisividad y censura alternas, desde los notorios normandos, cuyo poder militar dependia de la lealtad masculina, hasta el travestismo de moda de la decada de 1620, pasando por el frenesi de ejecuciones por sodomia a principios del siglo XIX y la "plaga gay" de los años ochenta del pasado siglo XX.Ackroyd nos lleva directamente a esta ciudad escondida, celebrando su diversidad, emociones y energia por un lado; pero nos recuerda sus terrores reales, peligros y riesgos por el otro. En una ciudad de superlativos, es tal vez esta fluidez sexual sin fin y la capacidad de recuperacion lo que personifican el verdadero triunfo de Londres.

A fascinating new biography of Edgar Allan Poe (1809--1849) -- sure to be another bestselling biography for Peter Ackroyd. Poe's life was Gothic, mysterious, theatrical, fatally flawed, original, dark, dazzling, satirical and inventive -- in short, an ideal subject for Peter Ackroyd. In fact, Ackroyd's biography of Poe opens with his end, his final days -- no-one knows what happened between the time when friends saw him off on the steamboat to Baltimore and his discovery six days later dying in a tavern. This mystery sets the scene for a short life packed with drama and tragedy (drink and poverty) combined with extraordinary brilliance. Tennyson described him as "the most original genius that America has produced." Poe has been claimed as the forerunner of modern fantasy, and credited with the invention of psychological dramas (long before Freud), science fiction (before H.G. Wells and Jules Verne) and the detective story (before Arthur Conan Doyle). He influenced European romanticism and was the harbinger of both Symbolism and Surrealism. Peter Ackroyd claims that Poe found his family among writers -- writers not only of his time but of the future generations who were influenced by the power of his imagination.

The English, Peter Ackroyd tells us in this fascinating collection, see more ghosts than any other nation. Each region has its own particular spirits, from the Celtic ghosts of Cornwall to the dobies and boggarts of the north. Some speak and some are silent, some smell of old leather, others of fragrant thyme. From medieval times to today stories have been toldand apparitions seen - ghosts who avenge injustice, souls who long for peace, spooks who just want to have fun.

The Canterbury Tales is a major part of England's literary heritage. From the exuberant Wife of Bath's Arthurian legend to the Miller's worldly, ribald farce, these tales can be taken as a mirror of fourteenth-century London. Incorporating every style of medieval narrative - bawdy anecdote, allegorical fable and courtly romance - the tales encompass a blend of universal human themes. Ackroyd's retelling is a highly readable, prose version in modern English, using expletive and avoiding euphemism, making the Tales much more accessible to a new generation of readers. The edition also includes an introduction by Ackroyd, detailing some of the historical background to Chaucer and the Tales, and why he has been inspired to translate them for a new generation of readers.

Alternating between the eighteenth century, when Nicholas Dyer, assistant to Christopher Wren, builds seven London churches that house a terrible secret, and the 1980s, when London detective Nicholas Hawksmoor is investigating a series of gruesome murders on the sight of certain old churches, this title presents a tale of darkness and shadow.

"It was at Oxford that I first met Bysshe. We arrived at our college on the same day; confusing to a mere foreigner, it is called University College. I had seen him from my window and had been struck by his auburn locks." The long-haired poet - 'Mad Shelley' - and the serious-minded student from Switzerland spark each other's animated interest in the new philosophy of science which is over-turning long-cherished beliefs. Perhaps there is no God. In which case, where is the divine spark, the soul? Can it be found in the human brain? The heart? The eyes? Victor Frankenstein begins his anatomy experiments in a barn in the secluded village of Headington, near Oxford. The coroner's office in Clarendon Street provides corpses - but they have often died of violence and drowning: they are damaged and petrifying. Victor moves his coils and jars and electrical fluids to a deserted pottery manufactory in Limehouse. And, from Limehouse, makes contact with the Doomesday Men - the resurrectionists. He pays better than any hospital for the bodies of the very recently dead. Even so, perfect specimens are hard to come by ... until that Thames-side dawn when Victor, waiting, wrapped in his greatcoat, on his wooden jetty, hears the splashing of oars and sees in the half-light that slung into the stern of the approaching boat is the corpse of a handsome young man, one hand trailing in the water....

Gothic, mysterious, theatrical, fatally flawed, and dazzling, the life of Edgar Allan Poe, one of Americas greatest and most versatile writers, is the ideal subject for Peter Ackroyd. Poe wrote lyrical poetry and macabre psychological melodramas; invented the first fictional detective; and produced pioneering works of science fiction and fantasy. His innovative style, images, and themes had a tremendous impact on European romanticism, symbolism, and surrealism, and continue to influence writers today. In this essential addition to his canon of acclaimed biographies, Peter Ackroyd explores Poes literary accomplishments and legacy against the background of his erratic, dramatic, and sometimes sordid life. Ackroyd chronicles Poes difficult childhood, his bumpy academic and military careers, and his complex relationships with women, including his marriage to his thirteen-year-old cousin. He describes Poes much-written-about problems with gambling and alcohol with sympathy and insight, showing their connections to Poes childhood and the trials, as well as the triumphs, of his adult life. Ackroyds thoughtful, perceptive examinations of some of Poes most famous works shed new light on these classics and on the troubled and brilliant genius who created them.

Esta es la historia de una familia londinense, los Lamb, poco conocida en España pero cuya importancia en la recuperación y valorización de Shakespeare es indiscutible. Charles Lam intenta hacerse un sitio en la sociedad literaria del siglo XIX (al tiempo que frecuenta en exceso los pubs), y Mary busca el modo de huir de una casa en la que convive con unos progenitores al borde de la locura. La pasión que comparten por la obra de Shakespeare es para ambos un perfecto modo de evasión. Sin embargo, cuando un joven y ambicioso librero les asegura haber encontrado diversos manuscritos de Shakespeare e incluso una obra teatral inédita, se sumergen en una estremecedora investigación que les puede llevar a la inmortalidad o al más estrepitoso de los ridículos. Peter Ackroyd nos recrea con todo lujo de detalles, el ambiente literario y la sociedad del Londres del siglo XIX en esta intersante novela.

In The Fall of Troy, acclaimed novelist and historian Peter Ackroyd creates a fascinating narrative that follows an archaeologist's obsession with finding the ruins of Troy, depicting the blurred line between truth and deception. Obermann, an acclaimed German scholar, fervently believes that his discovery of the ancient ruins of Troy will prove that the heroes of the Iliad, a work he has cherished all his life, actually existed. But Sophia, Obermann's young Greek wife, has her suspicions about his motivations suspicions that only increase when she finds a cache of artifacts that her husband has hidden, and when a more skeptical archaeologist dies from a mysterious fever. With exquisite detail, Ackroyd again demonstrates his ability to evoke time and place, creating a brilliantly told story of heroes and scoundrels, human aspirations and follies, and the temptation to shape the truth to fit a passionately held belief.

Victor Frankenstein begins his anatomy experiments in a barn in the secludedvillage of Headington. But perfect specimens are hard to come by ...until thatThames-side dawn when Victor, waiting, hears the splashing of oars and seesin the half-light that slung into the stern of the approaching boat is thecorpse of a handsome young man.

Famous for its ingenuity and wit, "The Canterbury Tales" is a major part of England's literary heritage. From the exuberant Wife of Bath's Arthurian legend to the Miller's worldly, ribald farce, these tales can be taken as a mirror of fourteenth century London and medieval society. Incorporating every style of Medieval narrative - bawdy anecdote, allegorical fable and courtly romance - the tales encompass the blend of universal human themes and individual personal detail that have fascinated readers for over 600 years. Here they are retold in full by Peter Ackroyd. The edition also includes an introduction by Ackroyd, detailing some of the historical background to Chaucer and the Tales, and details why he has been inspired to translate them for a new generation of readers.

Victor Frankenstein begins his anatomy experiments in a barn in the village of Headington, near Oxford. The coroner`s office in Clarendon Street provides corpses - but they have often died of violence and drowning: they are damaged and putrifying. Victor moves his coils and jars and electrical fluids to a deserted pottery manufactury in Limehouse. Victor Frankenstein comienza sus experimentos de anatomía en un granero de la localidad de Headington, cerca de Oxford. El forense de la calle Clarendon le proporciona los cuerpos, pero a menudo han experimentado muertes violentas o se han ahogado: suelen estar dañados y en estado de descomposición. Victor entonces traslada sus reóstatos, ampollas y fluídos ionizados a una fábrica de cerámica abandonada en Limehouse.

Víctor Frankenstein comienza sus experimentos en el terreno de la anatomía en un granero de una aldea apartada, Headington, no lejos de Oxford. El forense de la localidad le surte de los cadáveres que necesita, aunque en muchos casos hayan fallecido de forma violenta y se encuentren incompletos o en estado de descomposicion, casi inutilizables. Decide, pues, trasladarse a una tejera abandonada en el barrio londinense de Limehouse. Victor paga mas que cualquier hospital por los cadaveres aun calientes, pero ni asi le resulta facil hacerse con ejemplares en buen estado, hasta que una madrugada, a orillas del Tamesis, mientras aguarda embozado en el embarcadero, oye elchapoteo de unos remos, y en la popa de una barca que se acerca ve el cadaver de un joven apuesto que desliza una mano en el agua

Three Brothers follows the fortunes of Harry, Daniel and Sam Hanway, born on a post-war council estate in Camden Town. Marked out from the start by curious coincidence, each boy is forced to make his own way in the world a world of dodgy deals and big business, of criminal gangs and crooked landlords, of newspaper magnates, back-biters and petty thieves.London is the backdrop and the connecting fabric of these three lives, reinforcing Ackroyds grand theme that place and history create, surround and engulf us. From bustling, cut-throat Fleet Street to hallowed London publishing houses, from the wealth and corruption of Chelsea to the smoky shadows of Limehouse and Hackney, this is an exploration of the city, peering down its streets, riding on its underground, and drinking in its pubs and clubs. Everything is possible not only in the new freedom of the 1960s but also in Londons timeless past.