The Church of the Abandoned Christ: David Peace's 'Red Riding Quartet' and the Wreck of the White Ship

David Peace���s novel Nineteen Seventy-seven concludes with the hack journalist Jack Whitehead being granted a terrifying apocalyptic vision, seconds before he is trepanned with a Phillips screwdriver by the sinister Reverend Martin Laws. Included in this vision is a curious reference to the wreck of the White Ship, a maritime disaster in 1120 that drowned William Atheling, heir to the English throne, and ultimately doomed England to years of civil war. This article explores Peace���s strange use of the shipwreck in his ���Red Riding Quartet,��� particularly the way he links it���in the quartet���s final volume, Nineteen Eighty Three���to a revisionist account of the aftermath of the crucifixion that leads a wounded Christ to a tragic death in the cold waters of the English Channel.