History in the Making

I’ve been reading a book called ‘Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination’, by Peter Ackroyd, in which he examines popular thought and literature in Britain, from the Saxons to the present day, in order to identify common threads.  That’s a book which deserves a post of its own, but more on that later.  For now, I thought it was interesting that one of the things he said the British were obsessed with was the past.

Many people I know have always maintained that the British are obsessed with our past because it was more glorious than our present.  They think it’s a little pathetic of us, to be frank.  So I was amused to have it pointed out to me that whenever you look at British culture, we have always been obsessed with the past.

The first piece of fiction written in English, in fact; the epic poem Beowulf, written down some time in the 8th century, but clearly composed earlier, is set in a past which had already become legendary.  The first piece of fiction in English is a historical, in fact :)  As a historical novelist, this warms my heart.

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