Tom Paulin reviews Dan Ashcroft's book
‘Hoxditch: an Oral History’
by Dan Ashcroft
Pendant Publishing
503 pp. £15.00
In this magnificent account of East London, Ashcroft traces an oral history of Hoxton and Shoreditch, specifically weighing up recent changes in the districts against its colourful and turbulent past. The author’s judgements are individual and sometimes controversial, yet his ear for the private and public stories of its diverse community is unsurpassable, creating one of the most impressive and historically rich accounts of a London district that I have ever read.
‘Hoxditch: an Oral History’ is an extremely comprehensive modern historical tome. Its cutting-edge chapters, arranged in five thematic sections, contextualise and propose influential debates around the area’s cultural development over the past fifty years, from its extensive devastation during the Second World War to its latter gentrification and colonisation by the artistic and media set, particularly verbose on the ‘trashbat’ movement with which Ashcroft himself became inexorably linked.
In fact, it is the final chapter of the book that I found the most stimulating and gratifying. With its focus on the turn-of the millennium’s ‘Rise of the Idiots’, the author’s own scathing terminology and its brutal dissection of ‘Idiot culture’, Ashcroft draws the reader deep into this once ultra-fashionable haven for contemporary pseudo-bohemia. His use of language is particularly caustic and vivid; one might describe it as almost Joyce-ian. Reflecting on first-hand experience of becoming a reluctant ‘Messiah’ at the epicentre of this explosion of solipsistic creativity, Ashcroft painstakingly re-creates a world that leaves the reader feeling that they have lived through that particular era. In fact, such is the power and depth of the final chapter, I would go so far as to suggest that readers should start with that section of the book and work backwards, perhaps even not bother reading the rest.
Extensive cross-referencing and indexing provides a crucial comparative dimension. Including a bibliography and useful contacts list, this thorough publication is an essential read for anybody interested in looking beyond the shallow façade of today’s Hoxditch, taking you on an extraordinary journey of discovery that will leave you enriched and enlightened. It is a remarkable achievement that will be referenced by future generations of oral historians. I think it’s important to point out that this book also stands alone as a major literary work. Dan Ashcroft deserves huge and continued success.
‘Hoxditch: an Oral History’ is published on November 16th 2007. Pre-order your copy today on 08715 659659.