Peter Ackroyd, página 2 de 5

Cuando Peter Ackroyd publicó el impresionante libro Londres, una biografíapareció que ya poco más de interés podría decirse sobre esta fascinante ciudad.Desde sus orígenes hasta nuestros días, de los suburbios a los barrios residenciales, Ackroyd parecia haber agotado el tema por completo y no haber pasado nada por alto. Sin embargo, faltaba una mirada hacia abajo, y si Ackroyd demostro ya conocer Londres de cabo a rabo, en este nuevo libro pone de manifiesto hasta que asombroso punto lo conoce en profundidad, de arriba abajo, de las chimeneas a las alcantarillas¿Que oculta el subsuelo de Londres al paseante curioso?Todo un mundo, una asombrosa fauna (animal y humana), todo tipo de olores y hedores, una impresionante retahila de leyendas urbanas (algunas incluso bien fundamentadas), los mas sorprendentes vestigios del pasado.Este libro constituye una guia perfecta de ese mundo (o submundo) y saca a la luz una ingente cantidad de material grafico muy curioso. Ya sea el en apariencia inexplicable genio de Shakespeare, la sensibilidad de Dickens o la creacion de la imagen publica de Tomas Moro, la sagaz mirada de Peter Ackroyd siempre acaba por iluminar los rincones mas ocultos de aquello que analiza para descubrir en ellos inesperados puntos de interes, y su impecable prosa convierte cada uno de sus libros en joyas de la historia cultural.

Desde su creación en el siglo I, tras la conquista romana de Britania, Londinium ha sido un enclave fundamental para el desarrollo económico, político y cultural de Occidente, auténtico crisol de culturas, y con el paso de los años ha sabido crear una rica mitologia propia que ha marcado profundamente a sus habitantes.Peter Ackroyd, uno de los mayores apasionados de Londres, ha reconstruido magistralmente este proceso y logra transmitir a sus lectores una genuina e intensa pasion por esa metropoli.A traves de un sorprendente recorrido por su historia, que no rehuye los episodios mas negros, los barrios mas peligrosos ni los aspectos mas sombrios y menos conocidos, Ackroyd se sirve de su brillante prosa para arrojar luz sobre una ciudad caracterizada por la bruma y para mostrarnos hasta sus mas peculiares detalles, lo que Unamuno llamaria su intrahistoria.Una autentica obra maestra, cuya originalidad hace imposible clasificarla en los generos al uso. Pero que demuestra, sin duda alguna, que Londres siempre ha sido una ciudad muy viva.

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.

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.

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.

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 anatomia 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 descomposicion. Victor entonces traslada sus reostatos, ampollas y fluidos ionizados a una fabrica de ceramica abandonada en Limehouse.

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.

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.