SPINNING TALL TALES: TOWARDS A HERMENEUTICS OF THE IMAGINARY IN PETER ACKROYD’S CHATTERTON
SPINNING TALL TALES: TOWARDS A HERMENEUTICS OF THE IMAGINARY IN PETER ACKROYD’S CHATTERTON

Summary/Abstract: Chatterton (1987), a novel woven with lexical and symbolic cross-references, demands a reading that interprets these cross-references as a locus for the construction of the imaginary. There is a fundamental, recursive folding-back upon elusive selves: a modern- day poet seeks a poet from the past, who, in turn, stages and belies the identity of another poet. This looped return is more than a narratological element in the make-up of the novel; it bespeaks a metaphysical dread that refuses rational categorization, flitting back and forth through textual vestiges and modern anxieties of influence. Imagination and the imaginary are pivotal tropes – in the realm of presentation and representation, the writers within the story become the writers of each-other’s stories in wilful imitation, and performatively rooting themselves in practices that reiterate what was already said. The act of writing becomes a reflection of the previously written, while still eschewing linearity and the rules of cause and effect. In this vein, a crisis is engendered: where does the factual end, and the imaginary begin? It is the purpose of this paper to look at the blurred lines, and to try to provide an architectural sketch of the imaginary as it is rendered in the novel. This will be done through a hermeneutic lens, relying on concepts from several theoreticians in the field, in order to start a discussion on the line straddling fact and fiction.

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