Black Country Dionysus —Archie Hill and A Cage of Shadows

Abstract

This article considers the case of Archie Hill (1928–1986), the near-forgotten novelist, journalist and BBC television presenter. Using scant archive material, interviews and some speculative theorising, this study hopes to recount something of Hill’s life and assess his place in the canon of English literature with particular focus on A Cage of Shadows (1973), the account of his impoverished upbringing in the Black Country.