The
society learns of Mr. Norrell, who may just be England's last practicing
magician, and challenges him to prove his art. In an astonishing
display of his powers, Mr. Norrell brings the stone statues of the
Yorkshire Cathedral to life.
Emboldened by his newfound
notoriety, Norrell sets about restoring magic to England.
He finds a political ally in Sir Walter Pole after he brings Sir
Walter's fiancee back from the dead. Sir Walter intervenes
on Norrell's behalf with the government, and soon Norrell is putting
his magic to good use aiding the British against Napoleon.
His first spell creates a whole harbor full of British ships in
Brest, grounding the French navy for weeks until the cuckolded sailors
realize that the ships are made of nothing more than rain.
Soon Norrell is threatened
by a young upstart of a magician, Jonathan Strange, and after many
attempts at sabotaging Strange's magical career, agrees to take
the man as his pupil. Strange also proves himself to be of
great assistance to the British government, traveling with Wellington
and performing feats such as moving rivers and roads to new locations
to better suit the British military campaigns.
The relationship between
Mr. Norrell and Jonathan Strange is threatened as Strange becomes
increasingly mesmerized by the story of the Raven King, a shadowy
ancient figure who founded English magic and who is passionately
hated by Mr. Norrell.
In Jonathan Strange
and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke gives new meaning to the term
"magical realism" as she weaves together an imagined history
of English magic tradition with the very real history of the Napoleonic
war. Clarke's writing is not meant for children; her inventive
characters and dark, fantastical, and often malevolent landscapes
evoke Dickens more than Rowling. Her elegant prose is reminiscent
of Jane Austen, effortlessly rendering the social mannerisms of
nineteenth-century England with a supernatural twist.
Reviewers have criticized
Clarke's use of footnotes, and she does use them extensively.
While they sometimes distract the reader from the flow of the narrative,
they also prove the depth and complexity of the world Clarke has
invented, steeped in history and scholarship.
Jonathan Strange
is 800 pages long, which will please those who become entranced
by its otherworldly charms and are unwilling to leave its enormously
satisfying pages.
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