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Queer City
''Queer City: Gay London from Romans to the Present Day'' is a 2017 book by British biographer, novelist and critic Peter Ackroyd. Background and synopsis ''Queer City'' follows the history and experiences of the LGBT population of London beginning with Roman ''Londinium'' and exploring the "endless loop of alternating permissiveness and censure" that followed. ''Queer City'' explores the "diversity, thrills and energy" of the "hidden city" and concludes that "In a city of superlatives, it is perhaps this endless sexual fluidity and resilience that epitomise the real triumph of London." Reception Simon Callow wrote in ''The Guardian'' (which judged ''Queer City'' as Book of the Day) that "It was inevitable that London’s great chronicler, who happens himself to be queer, would give us the lowdown on homosex in the city. His book is predictably droll, provocative and crammed to bursting with startling facts and improbable names." In the ''New Statesman'', Philip Hoare described ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd (born 5 October 1949) is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a specialist interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, William Blake, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot, Charlie Chaplin and Sir Thomas More, he won the Somerset Maugham Award and two Whitbread Awards. He is noted for the volume of work he has produced, the range of styles therein, his skill at assuming different voices, and the depth of his research. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984 and appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2003. Early life and education Ackroyd was born in London and raised on a council estate in East Acton, in what he has described as a "strict" Roman Catholic household by his mother and grandmother, after his father disappeared from the family home. He first knew that he was gay when he was seven. He was educated at St. Benedic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |