Clerkenwell Tales Walk
Yesterday I gave a walk around Clerkenwell based on the Clerkenwell Tales by Peter Ackroyd. It did not entirely work I think partly because the start and end points were not conducive to the subject - as we were within Clerkenwell and at least half of the book takes place in the City.
The book is a bit of a potboiler with really the only point of interest being the local colour that Ackroyd has added. I can't help thinking he was dashing off a quick book to pay for his time spent on the more academic studies.
Firstly, the title was obviously chosen to resonate with the Canterbury Tales, and the people in the book are supposedly drawn from Chaucer's masterpiece. Except they are not - they may have the same job titles, friar, pardoner, nun's priest, manciple etc. but their characters are absolutely nothing to do with Chaucer's. Just one example - William Exmewe the mastermind behind the murders is not a jolly corrupt friar, he is a hard bitten Machiavelli, but virtually every other character is also nothing to do with Chaucer. So I felt cheated.
Secondly it is not a who-do-it - it is a why-done-it. You are pretty sure who did the murders but the question is who is behind it all or will the plot be foiled, but you don't really care about any of the characters, nor do you believe in the medieval terrorist campaign - the likelihood of a bomb campaign in medieval London, although technically feasible is vanishingly unlikely. So this leaves the local medieval colour as the main point of interest - and it has some of these but the characters are 'dressed' with medievalisms they don't seem to me to live them.
I did think of a good way to do the walk - this was to emulate Ackroyd - 50% of output historically accurate academic, 50% magical realism and pseudo pyschogeographic mumbo jumbo - could create a pyschodrama out of it?
The Clerkenwell Tales Walk for what its worth would be some thing like this:
Start Clerkenwell Green
To Smithfield
St Martins Le Grand
Cheapside
St Paul's
Baynards Castle
Ludgate
Newgate
Holy Sepulchre Church
Smithfield
Clerkenwell
The group were a very pleasant group and it was a real pleasure to see them again as I did a walk for them 2 or 3 years ago.
The book is a bit of a potboiler with really the only point of interest being the local colour that Ackroyd has added. I can't help thinking he was dashing off a quick book to pay for his time spent on the more academic studies.
Firstly, the title was obviously chosen to resonate with the Canterbury Tales, and the people in the book are supposedly drawn from Chaucer's masterpiece. Except they are not - they may have the same job titles, friar, pardoner, nun's priest, manciple etc. but their characters are absolutely nothing to do with Chaucer's. Just one example - William Exmewe the mastermind behind the murders is not a jolly corrupt friar, he is a hard bitten Machiavelli, but virtually every other character is also nothing to do with Chaucer. So I felt cheated.
Secondly it is not a who-do-it - it is a why-done-it. You are pretty sure who did the murders but the question is who is behind it all or will the plot be foiled, but you don't really care about any of the characters, nor do you believe in the medieval terrorist campaign - the likelihood of a bomb campaign in medieval London, although technically feasible is vanishingly unlikely. So this leaves the local medieval colour as the main point of interest - and it has some of these but the characters are 'dressed' with medievalisms they don't seem to me to live them.
I did think of a good way to do the walk - this was to emulate Ackroyd - 50% of output historically accurate academic, 50% magical realism and pseudo pyschogeographic mumbo jumbo - could create a pyschodrama out of it?
The Clerkenwell Tales Walk for what its worth would be some thing like this:
Start Clerkenwell Green
To Smithfield
St Martins Le Grand
Cheapside
St Paul's
Baynards Castle
Ludgate
Newgate
Holy Sepulchre Church
Smithfield
Clerkenwell
The group were a very pleasant group and it was a real pleasure to see them again as I did a walk for them 2 or 3 years ago.
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