![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The History and Practice of English Magic
Nov. 9th, 2021 09:11 pmBook Review: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
Yes, this has been on the shelves for many years, and yes, I was a bit put off by the TV adaptation a few years ago, which started off reasonably enough but lost itself somewhere along the way and really made no sense at the end.
As is often the case, the book is better, but not without quirks. I assume there was a conscious effort to mimic a nineteenth century novel - the prevalence of archaic spelling (shew, surprize, chuse, stopt, curiously but presumably accurately, never magick) is eye-catching but a bit irritating. And did it have to be quite so long? The length of chapters isn't particularly uniform, which distances it from the common feature of serialization. At least it has an ending that makes enough sense.
My impression of the book was not only historical, but I felt there were some timeless tropes and scope for more contemporary interpretations too. Norrell, somewhat hypocritically, performs some magic whose nature he despises with at least an intended side-effect of furthering his own interests, doesn't foresee or handle the consequences, and lives forever after somewhat in its shadow. Only towards the end of the book do Strange or Norrell discover what happened, and whilst there are reasons no-one can tell them directly, they seem remarkably incurious as to what may be going on with Lady Pole. Norrell is somewhat taken advantage of by Drawlight and Lascelles, who ultimately meet their come-uppances. Strange gets the better of it in his adventures with the Duke of Wellington, but the death of his wife leaves him a broken man, and of course he leaves for an adventure to Venice, via an inevitable meeting with Lord Byron and Dr Polidori, goes mad, and returns to England seeking - something.
In today's terms it would be obvious to describe Norrell as "on the spectrum". He's clearly talented, but in some combination he is unable or unwilling to meet the rest of humanity on anything other than his own terms, jealously hordes all books on English Magic, seeks to censor its history, and regulate the practising of it (by which he means preventing anyone but himself from doing so). Fussy and perfectionist, he never quite gets around to writing and publishing his master works himself. Yet he opens up to Strange and acknowledges his skill. Strange, for his part, is quite capable of playing the social butterfly, but is also flawed in caring for his relationships. The two disagree on the matter of the ancient Raven King. Strange is perhaps more talented than Norrell - certainly, Norrell comes to think so - but because the latter keeps his library largely to himself, the former can't learn from history about the things he seeks, including their dangers.
Norrell's house in Yorkshire goes by the rather eponymous name of Hurtfew Abbey. Certainly, several other characters in the book - Segundus, Childermass, Vinculus, Stephen Black - are more human, and are changed, not always for the better, by the events in the story. I do feel this book could have been shorter, but it did reward in the end.
Yes, this has been on the shelves for many years, and yes, I was a bit put off by the TV adaptation a few years ago, which started off reasonably enough but lost itself somewhere along the way and really made no sense at the end.
As is often the case, the book is better, but not without quirks. I assume there was a conscious effort to mimic a nineteenth century novel - the prevalence of archaic spelling (shew, surprize, chuse, stopt, curiously but presumably accurately, never magick) is eye-catching but a bit irritating. And did it have to be quite so long? The length of chapters isn't particularly uniform, which distances it from the common feature of serialization. At least it has an ending that makes enough sense.
My impression of the book was not only historical, but I felt there were some timeless tropes and scope for more contemporary interpretations too. Norrell, somewhat hypocritically, performs some magic whose nature he despises with at least an intended side-effect of furthering his own interests, doesn't foresee or handle the consequences, and lives forever after somewhat in its shadow. Only towards the end of the book do Strange or Norrell discover what happened, and whilst there are reasons no-one can tell them directly, they seem remarkably incurious as to what may be going on with Lady Pole. Norrell is somewhat taken advantage of by Drawlight and Lascelles, who ultimately meet their come-uppances. Strange gets the better of it in his adventures with the Duke of Wellington, but the death of his wife leaves him a broken man, and of course he leaves for an adventure to Venice, via an inevitable meeting with Lord Byron and Dr Polidori, goes mad, and returns to England seeking - something.
In today's terms it would be obvious to describe Norrell as "on the spectrum". He's clearly talented, but in some combination he is unable or unwilling to meet the rest of humanity on anything other than his own terms, jealously hordes all books on English Magic, seeks to censor its history, and regulate the practising of it (by which he means preventing anyone but himself from doing so). Fussy and perfectionist, he never quite gets around to writing and publishing his master works himself. Yet he opens up to Strange and acknowledges his skill. Strange, for his part, is quite capable of playing the social butterfly, but is also flawed in caring for his relationships. The two disagree on the matter of the ancient Raven King. Strange is perhaps more talented than Norrell - certainly, Norrell comes to think so - but because the latter keeps his library largely to himself, the former can't learn from history about the things he seeks, including their dangers.
Norrell's house in Yorkshire goes by the rather eponymous name of Hurtfew Abbey. Certainly, several other characters in the book - Segundus, Childermass, Vinculus, Stephen Black - are more human, and are changed, not always for the better, by the events in the story. I do feel this book could have been shorter, but it did reward in the end.