[ebooktalk] Re: PETER ACKROYD THE CASEBOOK OF VICTOR FRANKENSTINE
- From: Ian Macrae <ian.macrae1@xxxxxxx>
- To: ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 22:46:40 +0000
Ackroyd's non-fiction is often fabulou8s. London is a great book. I also
quite enjoyed Hawksmoore but thought the one about archiology in Wiltshire was
rubbish.
On 29 Oct 2013, at 18:48, Shell wrote:
> Steve, I did attempt to read Hawksmore by Peter Ackroyd some years ago and
> couldn't get on with it. I haven't read him since, but then I was a lot
> younger when I tried him and might get on better now.
> Shell.
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Steven Bingham" <steven.bingham1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2013 12:16 PM
> To: <ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [ebooktalk] PETER ACKROYD THE CASEBOOK OF VICTOR FRANKENSTINE
>
> > Hi
> >
> >
> >
> > I have nearly finished this fascinating novel. It is a retelling of the
> > Frankenstine story for the point of view of Victor Frankenstine. Shelley is
> > a character in the story.
> >
> >
> >
> > One thing that strikes me about Ackroyd's writing is that he is very good on
> > smell. Smell doesn't often get a look in in fiction and I suppose this is
> > reasonable as we don't really notice it. Today the prominent smell of most
> > of our towns and a good bit of the countryside is the smell of petrol or
> > diesel oil from vehicles. Transport has always had a large impact on the
> > smell of a place up until the end of the first World War it would have been
> > the smells associated with horses. Up until the adoption of modern sewage
> > treatment and particularly the water closet much of the smell of a place
> > would have been attributable to human waste.
> >
> >
> >
> > The book is set in the period around 1820. At that time the smell of London
> > must have been horrendous by modern standards. Not only did you have the
> > horse and human waste but cattle were kept, often in cellars, to provide
> > milk; there were large numbers of slaughter houses to provide meat and of
> > course all these animals to feed provide dairy produce and eggs would have
> > to be driven through the streets. Then there was the river . We have all
> > heard about the 'Great Stink' of the 1850s.
> >
> >
> >
> > So ackroyd does describe the stench of the places, not obsessively, but
> > enough to make it fairly real.
> >
> >
> >
> > Steve
> >
> >
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