Transgressing Time in Precarious Space: (Re)constructing the City in Peter Ackroyd’s The Plato Papers
Transgressing Time in Precarious Space: (Re)constructing the City in Peter Ackroyd’s The Plato Papers

Summary/Abstract: Elemental axes in the workings of a novel, time and space provide fruitful arenas for discussion, shedding light not only on narratological underpinnings, but on the ways in which these underpinnings influence and alter each-other. The point of convergence, though it may prove elusive, is where the novel exists. The Ackroydian novel constructs a fluid nexus in which time and space are syntagmatically contingent: this nexus is the city of London, examined through the ages, expounded upon and experienced as a living body. The effacement of static life is embodied in the urban palimpsest, and it is Plato, London's own philosopher, who traces the process of rewriting and reconstruction: never stable or predictable, the city's history is where change is inscribed, both temporally and spatially. I intend to break down these dimensions and to look at their interplay, and thus render an analysis that highlights both continuity and interstice.

• Details
• Contents