Mobilities of presence : the motifs of time and history in the novels of Peter Ackroyd

Abstract

After a brief contextualisation, time and history are examined in Ackroyd's novels. Chapter 1 examines postmodernism. Chapter 2 explores history perceived as fact and as construct. Chapter 3 investigates the dissolution of the distinction between history and fiction. Chapter 4 analyses the development of 'originality' and the futile search for origin. Chapter 5 examines the interchangeability of fiction and reality. Chapter 6 studies theories on time, focusing on Einstein's theory of relativity. Chapter 7 analyses the coexistence of the past and present, and the relativity of time. Chapter 8 scrutinises the myth of 'mobilities of presence', which facilitates rejuvenation. Chapter 9 considers the relation between time and space necessary for rejuvenation. Chapter 10 looks at simultaneity and the eternal present. It is clear that Ackroyd explores the mobilities of presence of historical and fictional characters, objects, and texts, thus showing that time is a web of simultaneously existing present moments.