cover image Chatterton

Chatterton

Peter Ackroyd. Ballantine Books, $8.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-345-35822-6

The ``manifestly clever, darkly humorous'' novel limns an impoverished poet in modern-day London, who discovers that another poet, Chatterton, faked his own death in 1770, and continued to write poetry that was attributed to Cowper, Blake et al. PW called this an ``eminently satisfying tale.'' (Jan.)