"Piranesi"
Apr. 16th, 2021 03:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tree_and_leafI finally read "Piranesi", and I did indeed love it. I was not expecting quite so much intertextuality with The Magician's Nephew (in fact, can you argue that it's set in the same universe*?), nor that the theme Clarke picks up most strongly from that book would be "magicians with bad research ethics".
I loved the narrative voice - which must have been quite tricky to pull off - despite my general suspicion of non-internet texts that make Heavy Use of Significant Capitalisation. Of course, a reason (or a Reason) for them emerges, and it's noticeable that they stop once the narrative voice has developed in a particular way. I liked the liminality; I liked the sense of place, both the fantastic, and the Mancunian bits, and in particular the surprise appearance of Manchester Town Hall; I liked the House and the vague neo-Platonicness of it all; and I liked the kindness of the main character.
Good villains, too - even though we don't actually see much of Ketterley, and initially see him through the eyes of someone who thinks he is a friend and a good person - you get a very strong sense of what a nasty piece of work he is. The joke name he gives his prisoner, which of course only he can appreciate, tells you a lot about him and his particular kind of egotistical nastiness. Though I do wonder if the joke's also on him - the real Piranesi clearly also found beauty in his fantastic buildings, even if they were often of prisons, and the narrator sees beauty in the House which Ketterley doesn't appreciate. Wiki tells me Piranesi also was fond of saying "col sporcar si trova", "by messing about, one discovers". Ketterley thinks Piranesi is just "messing about", but in fact his loving exploration of the house is what saves him, both practically - he knows what the tides will do, and how to survive it, and it's how he learned to thrive on the fish and seaweed he can gather - but also emotionally and perhaps even spiritually.
I was also impressed by the way there's a whole back story, which is quite strongly and vividly sketched in in a very economical way. It's a very well crafted book, as well as an original one.
Lots of references, overt and less so, to Narnia, and I bet if I'd ever actually read any Barfield, who is name checked at one point, I'd find interesting resonances there.
* Uncle Andrew is childless, but I suppose the magician might have had more than one nephew....
Also, just remembered: Uncle Andrew owes his ability to get into other worlds to his godmother, Mrs Lefay, who he indignantly recalls was put in prison for crimes left unspecified. Not unlike Val Ketterley's mentor, who goes to jail (for kidnapping and false imprisonment). On the other hand, Arne-Sayles survives to become an antagonist of Ketterley, and in fact does the narrator a bit of a service, albeit only out of a desire to spite Ketterley - but then Lefay might not have been pleased with Uncle Andrew, either, given he broke the promise he made her on her death bed.
I loved the narrative voice - which must have been quite tricky to pull off - despite my general suspicion of non-internet texts that make Heavy Use of Significant Capitalisation. Of course, a reason (or a Reason) for them emerges, and it's noticeable that they stop once the narrative voice has developed in a particular way. I liked the liminality; I liked the sense of place, both the fantastic, and the Mancunian bits, and in particular the surprise appearance of Manchester Town Hall; I liked the House and the vague neo-Platonicness of it all; and I liked the kindness of the main character.
Good villains, too - even though we don't actually see much of Ketterley, and initially see him through the eyes of someone who thinks he is a friend and a good person - you get a very strong sense of what a nasty piece of work he is. The joke name he gives his prisoner, which of course only he can appreciate, tells you a lot about him and his particular kind of egotistical nastiness. Though I do wonder if the joke's also on him - the real Piranesi clearly also found beauty in his fantastic buildings, even if they were often of prisons, and the narrator sees beauty in the House which Ketterley doesn't appreciate. Wiki tells me Piranesi also was fond of saying "col sporcar si trova", "by messing about, one discovers". Ketterley thinks Piranesi is just "messing about", but in fact his loving exploration of the house is what saves him, both practically - he knows what the tides will do, and how to survive it, and it's how he learned to thrive on the fish and seaweed he can gather - but also emotionally and perhaps even spiritually.
I was also impressed by the way there's a whole back story, which is quite strongly and vividly sketched in in a very economical way. It's a very well crafted book, as well as an original one.
Lots of references, overt and less so, to Narnia, and I bet if I'd ever actually read any Barfield, who is name checked at one point, I'd find interesting resonances there.
* Uncle Andrew is childless, but I suppose the magician might have had more than one nephew....
Also, just remembered: Uncle Andrew owes his ability to get into other worlds to his godmother, Mrs Lefay, who he indignantly recalls was put in prison for crimes left unspecified. Not unlike Val Ketterley's mentor, who goes to jail (for kidnapping and false imprisonment). On the other hand, Arne-Sayles survives to become an antagonist of Ketterley, and in fact does the narrator a bit of a service, albeit only out of a desire to spite Ketterley - but then Lefay might not have been pleased with Uncle Andrew, either, given he broke the promise he made her on her death bed.
"The Ketterleys are an old Dorsetshire family."
Date: 2021-04-16 04:59 pm (UTC)The pre-modern state of conscious, interactive unity with nature which Arne-Sayles' experiments are designed to regain access to ("When they observed the world, the world observed them back") comes from the theory of original participation proposed by Owen Barfield.
Uncle Andrew owes his ability to get into other worlds to his godmother, Mrs Lefay, who he indignantly recalls was put in prison for crimes left unspecified. Not unlike Val Ketterley's mentor, who goes to jail (for kidnapping and false imprisonment).
I got that echo, too: "Did very unwise things." And a flicker of Andrew Ketterley himself ("I had to get to know some—well, some devilish queer people, and go through some very disagreeable experiences . . . My health broke down in the end") when Arne-Sayles says, "We all paid a terrible price in the end," although he did at least pay it himself, not merely send someone else to pay it for him.
(I loved Piranesi.)
Re: "The Ketterleys are an old Dorsetshire family."
Date: 2021-04-16 05:34 pm (UTC)Thank you for the context about Barfield. And I enjoyed the post and discussion at your journal now I've read it, thank you for the link.
Re: "The Ketterleys are an old Dorsetshire family."
Date: 2021-04-16 07:53 pm (UTC)Oh, yes.
Thank you for the context about Barfield. And I enjoyed the post and discussion at your journal now I've read it, thank you for the link.
You're welcome! The friend who offered the double-check on Charles Williams thinks it sounds like slightly yes, for the record.
Charles Williams
Date: 2021-04-17 04:58 am (UTC)Re: Charles Williams
Date: 2021-04-17 05:01 am (UTC)Thank you for the double-double-check!
Re: Charles Williams
Date: 2021-04-17 09:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-04-17 04:52 am (UTC)