A novel in which the writer John Milton is shipwrecked on the coast of America after fleeing England, and encounters native Indians and hostile settler communities in his quest to establish his own Puritan settlement. From the author of HAWKSMOOR, CHATTERTON and DAN LENO AND THE LIMEHOUSE GOLEM.
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The poet John Milton was a difficult man who lived in difficult times. A republican at the time of the restoration of Charles II to the throne, the blind Milton found himself summarily bounced from his job, tossed into prison, and threatened with execution before he was eventually released. Despite his troubles, or perhaps because of them, it was in this tumultuous time that Milton created his enduring masterpiece Paradise Lost. But what if he hadn't? What if, instead of pouring his creative energies into poetry, Milton had followed a different path, say, to America? This is the premise of Peter Akroyd's novel, Milton in America.
In Milton in America the poet flees England for the New World, where he proceeds to establish a Puritan community and to become increasingly obsessed and repressive as years go by. Milton's madness reaches a bloody climax when a group of Roman Catholics sets up a settlement nearby. Admirers of Ackroyd's previous works will find this one intriguing; admirers of the historical Milton might well be outraged by this radical revision of the great man's life. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
Suppose that instead of returning his attention to the crafting of poetry upon the restoration of Charles II in 1660, John Milton had fled to New England with the idea of creating his own earthly paradise. Suppose, too, that you are among those who see Milton as a strict Puritan and domestic tyrant?a man whose sensuousness T.S. Eliot once claimed was "withered by book learning" and his blindness. Then suppose that you are an author with a reputation as an imaginative, witty storyteller (e.g., The Trial of Elizabeth Cree, LJ 5/15/95). Given such circumstances, you might very well create a novel as compelling and as entertaining as this one. Exuding moral rectitude and self-importance, Ackroyd's Milton becomes an even greater despot than the kings he professes so fervently to despise. As a result, his companions in the wilderness are forced to pay a fearful price. This tale of the dangers of self-righteous pomposity and bigotry is adroitly and wittily crafted (you have to love characters like Humility Tilly and Outspoken Mather?even if your not familiar with Colonial history) and carries with it an important message. Highly recommended for all libraries.?David W. Henderson, Eckerd Coll. Lib., St. Petersberg, Fla.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
Format:Paperback
"Milton in America" is another piece of historical fiction by Peter Ackroyd, in which John Milton, accompanied by the boy Goosequill, flees England in 1660 for the sanctuary of America.
Milton swiftly becomes the leading light of the Puritan settlement he (somewhat fortuitously) arrives at. The Brethren rename the settlement "New Milton" in his honour. However, tensions arise, not only between the native Americans and the Puritans, but also between the Puritans and a neighbouring group of Catholic settlers.
"Milton in America" is at times funny, ironic and tragic. The main part of the plot revolves around the irony that Milton's flight from religious persecution does nothing to stop him resurrecting religious intolerance (that is, his own) in the New World. As such, the novel is a critique both of religious intolerance and of the oppressive nature of organised religions. It's much less of an historical mystery than Ackroyd's other novels, much more of a morality tale. Very well written, entertaining and thought-provoking.
G Rodgers
Format:Hardcover
I'll leave it to other reviewers to summarize the plot of this excellent novel, instead calling your attention to the significant episode when Milton disappears from his Puritan village for 6 weeks, regains his lost sight, and is welcomed as an equal when adopted by an native tribe--whose mysterious animism he, in turn, adopts. We see a great 17th-century intellect overwhelmed by a 21st-century spirituality, and we contemplate the structure of faith, intellect, history and truth. Structure is a theme, too, as again Ackroyd's modus operandi is a strand of narratives and narrators whose knot of stories are worth the reader's untying. Of course, Ackroyd's protagonist is a Milton, not the Milton; and this Milton is a doer, not a writer. As another English revolutionary, GBS's John Tanner, said, "He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches." So the novel never mentions "Paradise Lost" because Ackroyd's Milton has come to America to regain the paradise--to 'do' paradise--rather than stagnate in Restoration London to teach about a paradise in an epic poem. To take off from Stanley Fish's title on "Paradise Lost," we are surprised by Milton's virtue when he becomes our post-Christian co-religionist. By far, this is Ackroyd's best book from the 14 novels, biographies and critical studies of his that I've read. And the best Milton I've read in a many a year.
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Peter Ackroyd has a frustrating habit of taking absolutely wonderful premises, such as this one, and turning them into quite dull books. Occasionally he writes wonderfully, but he appears to have no idea of human emotion, and as normal his characters here are like stilted wooden puppets.
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