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Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM |
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This Day in Alternate History Blog
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Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
I seem to have been reading
more fantasy lately, in between my own writing and work.
I picked up Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell for a song – ok, £2
– and spent a few days reading it. I
was left with very mixed feelings; the author has created a world as elaborate
as the Night’s Dawn books, but one that is written in a curiously low-key
style. There is excitement and
mystery, but little action. The plot revolves around
two magicians; Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange. They are the only two practical magicians in England
–although there are many theoretical magicians.
Norrell is determined to single-handedly rehabilitate his sanitised and
patriotic version of English magic, which has suffered a post-Enlightenment
neglect after a richly dark history. Strange
– later - emerges to become his pupil and later his rival.
Even as Norrell works to put magic on a ‘scientific basis’, Strange
becomes increasingly obsessed with the Raven King—the medieval lord-magician
of the North of England and pursues his desire to recruit a fairy servant to the
edge of madness. Both men have made mistakes…and they have to pay for it.
The book has been compared
to Tolkien. In some ways, that is
accurate; the plot moves slowly onwards. Speed,
in fact, is missing almost entirely; the important parts of the book are well
separated. It’s sometimes hard to
care for either of the magicians; Norrell is selfish and Strange is careless.
Between them, they hurt people accidentally.
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