Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, my favorite parts
Easier said than done, but you should read this book blindly. The short description on Amazon still gives too much away! (Amazon)
On the other hand, knowing that a “Raven King” character might be a big deal in Volumes II and III makes Clarke’s allusions to him in Volume I very enjoyable, especially in the footnotes. I read them as intently as I watch “Survivor” scenes featuring the eventual winner of that season.
Not many joyful chapters in Volume I, but Clarke’s tone makes it a joy to think about. This is a good essay on the book.
What I loved most, in tone and in humor:
6: The York magicians had all looked over the letter and expressed their doubts that any body with such small handwriting could ever make a tolerable magician.
50: “We came here in the expectation of seeing something very extraordinary, and instead we have been obliged to provide our own amusement.” His eye happening to light upon Mr Norrell, he said, “That gentleman is reading a book.”
54: (On gentlemen passing their lives in ostentatious idleness): …How in recent years this breed seemed to have reached a sort of perfection in Christopher Drawlight.
63: (On Norrell, after he moved to London): In general, London found him disappointing. He did no magic, cursed no one, foretold nothing. Once at Mrs Godestone’s house he was heard to remark that he thought it might rain.
74: (When Pole thought that Norrell could only use magic to wash things): He assured Sir Walter that he had never in his life washed linen – not by magic nor by any other means.
(Norrell describes his feats in his usual dry manner): Sir Walter was left with the impression that the spectacle of half a thousand stone figures in York Cathedral all speaking together had been rather a dull affair and that he had been fortunate in being elsewhere at the time.
75: (Mrs Wintertowne describes her painting of Venice and how she got it): After each sentence she paused to give Mr Norrell time to be impressed by the information it contained.
“You are a magician, sir?” said Mrs Wintertowne. “I am sorry to hear it. It is a profession I have a particular dislike to.” She looked keenly at him as she said so, as though her disapproval might in itself be enough to make him renounce magic instantly and take up some other occupation.
89: (Drawlight tries to convince Norrell to let him stay in the room where Norrell will try to revive Miss Wintertowne): “Who will describe the ineffable grandeur of the moment when your magicianship triumphs and the young woman rises from the dead? Or the unbearable pathos of the moment when you are forced to admit defeat? You will not do it half so well yourself, sir. You know that you will not.”
91: He plucked Mr Norrell’s wig from his head and looked underneath, as if Mr Norrell were a cooking pot on the fire and he wished to know what was for dinner.
97: Mr Lascelles whispered to Mr Drawlight that he had not realized before that doing such kind actions would lead to his being addressed in such familiar terms by so many low people — it was most unpleasant — he would take care to do no more.
102: (Pole met Miss Wintertowne and): had quickly concluded that it would be a very good thing, not only to marry her as soon as it could conveniently be contrived, but also to get better acquainted with her.
105: (Lord Castlereagh thinks that the obvious next feat for Norrell is to reanimate Lord Nelson, who successfully fought the French): Lord Castlereagh begged Sir Walter’s pardon — perhaps he had not understood something — but why they were wasting time talking about it?
113: SHIPS MADE OF RAIN
118: The description of the engraving The Spirit of English Magic urges Mr Norrell to the Aid of Britannia. I would love to see readers’ guesses of what it looks like, before they read the description. There are probably not enough detailed descriptions of fictional art in novels.
120: Lascelles explains to Norrell why writers review books: “It is precisely by passing judgements upon other people’s work and pointing out their errors that readers can be made to understand your own opinions better. It is the easiest thing in the world to turn a review to one’s own ends. One only need mention the book once or twice and for the rest of the article one may develop one’s theme just as one chuses.”
131: “The weapons that my enemies raised against me are venerated in Hell as holy relics;
Plans that my enemies made against me are preserved as holy texts;”
137: Both parties consulted lawyers and two separate lawsuits were started, one in the Doctors Commons in London and one in the Scottish courts. The two lawsuits, Strange versus Erquistoune and Erquistoune versus Strange, went on for years and years and during this time the very sight of his son became displeasing to Lawrence Strange. It seemed to him that the boy was like a boggy field or a copse full of diseased trees – worth money on paper but failing to yield a good annual return.
139: (After Laurence Strange’s new manservant goes on a dirty bloody quest for a glass of sherry-wine): He brought the glass to Mr. Strange, who drank it straight down and asked for another.
144: Of course the new manservant was glad to be thought remarkable, and as he told and re-told the story he discovered that what he had actually said to Mr Strange when he asked for the third glass of sherry-wine was…
145: How Clarke repeats the phrase “her ladyship” a few times — maybe just playing with it, maybe making fun. And the 19th century-ness of: The Secretary of War, coming out of Drummond’s in Charing Cross one morning, was brought into sudden and unexpected conjunction with her ladyship walking rapidly along the street and was quite overturned.
149: (After servants working under butler Stephen Black hear a rumor that Stephen is an African prince and heir to a vast kingdom): After this revelation the Harley-street servants watched Stephen out of the corners of their eyes and agreed among themselves that nothing was more likely. In fact, was not their own obedience to Stephen the best proof of it? For it was hardly likely that such independent, proud-spirited Englishmen and women would have submitted to the authority of a black man, had they not instinctively felt that respect and reverence which a commoner feels for a king!
157: Gentlemen are often invited to stay at other people’s houses. Rooms hardly ever are.
164: (After Sir William Pole died while owing a considerable amount of money to Brandy’s shop): Mr Brandy, a short-tempered, pinched-faced, cross little old man, was beside himself with rage about it. He died shortly afterwards, and was presumed by many people to have done so on purpose and to have gone in pursuit of his noble debtor.
166: (Light from a magical coin changes the labels of grocery drawers at Mrs Brandy’s shop): But now the words appeared to read: Mercy (Deserved), Mercy (Undeserved), Nightmares, Good Fortune, Bad Fortune, Persecution by Families, Ingratitude of Children, Confusion, Perspicacity and Veracity. It was as well that none of them noticed this odd change. Mrs. Brandy would have been most distressed by it had she known. She would not have had the least notion what to charge for these new commodities.
167: “Present my compliments to Mr. Black and say that if he is at liberty I should be glad of a few moments’ conversation with him. No, wait! Do not say that, it sounds so presumptuous. You must apologize for disturbing him and say that whenever he should happen to be at liberty I should be grateful – no, honoured – no, grateful – I should be grateful for a few moments’ conversation with him.”
174: (Mr Baillie, Physician Extraordinary to the King, visits Lady Pole, who is pale, unsmiling and non-talkative again. He finds her in excellent health, convinces himself that marital troubles are the cause, and gets on a roll while talking to her husband): Was there perhaps something that Lady Pole had set her heart upon? Well if it were a small thing, like a new gown or a bonnet, why not let her have it since she wanted it so much? If it were a large thing like a house or a visit to Scotland, then perhaps it would be best to talk to her about it. Mr. Baillie was sure that her ladyship was not an unreasonable person.
176: As Sir Walter gazed from his carriage window, he thought it fortunate that he was not in any way a fanciful person. Someone else might have been quite unsettled by the combination of the disagreeable task of consulting a magician and this queer, black-and-bloody dissolution of the London streets.
192: The street-sorcerers packed up their little stalls, loaded their shabby possessions into handcarts and trudged out of the City. Some took the trouble to curse London as they left, but by and large they bore the change in their fortunes with admirable philosophy. Most had simply settled it in their own minds that henceforth they would give up magic and become instead beggars and thieves and, since they had indulged in beggary and thievery in an amateur way for years, the wrench was not so great as you might imagine.
Is this Norrell’s monologue, or Clarke’s, or tongue-in-cheek Clarke’s?
194: “A love spell? Certainly. But it will be expensive. I generally charge four shillings for a spell to catch a milkmaid, ten shillings for a seamstress and six guineas for a widow with her own business.”
212: (Strange is infatuated with Miss Woodhope and is constructing a conversation with her): “I can tell her about the empty village and the children at the window peeping out between the curtains, one with a doll in her hand and the other with a wooden horse. Next come the silent crowd with their weapons and the man beneath the hedge.”
Oh! she was certain to say, Poor man! What happened to him? — I do not know, Strange would say. But surely you stayed to help him, she would say. No, Strange would say. Oh!, she would say . . .
(And Strange turns around and tries to help the man.)
216: And [Vinculus] dangled the money in the man’s face in a very impertinent fashion. Just as a fight seemed certain to ensue from one cause or another, peace was suddenly restored to the village of Monk Gretton by the simple expedient of Vinculus turning and walking off one way and Strange and Jeremy Jahns riding off another.
(Like a janky open-world video game.)
221: “Two Spells to Make an Obstinate Man leave London," read Arabella. "I wonder why the magician would want to make people leave London?"
"I do not know. There are certainly too many people in London, but it seems a great deal of work to make them leave one at a time."
I hoped that carefully preparing the above list of favorite parts would make me remember at least some of them, but I think within two days of publishing it, I had forgotten them all. So for Volumes II and III of the book, I will just put a brief essence of every part I loved. Probably you have a much better memory and may recognize them! Plus, doing this means I can tease myself when I reread it later.
Volume II
254 and 263-4, Strange sending dreams to Alexander and Napoleon
278, The footnote at the start of Chapter 27
287-288, Mr Redeshawe’s carpet
300, The sailors don’t totally know what to do with the sand-horses, and how “they swam about Spithead for a day and a half, after which they lay down and became sandbanks in new and entirely unexpected places.”
316, …
“”The other magician,” explained Strange.
...
The officer called Danziel stared at Strange with an expression of surprize, …”
330, The French are scared of a real thousand-year road
343, “Saornil, in particular…”
“Rather as if all the dead Frenchmen were still chattering with fear.”
345, “Since Old Testament times”
357, ““They have learnt it very quickly,” said Lord Wellington, “They have only been dead three days.” He approved of people doing things promptly and in a businesslike fashion.”
360, “While Mr Strange moved Spain about…”
380, Reasonableness, next Friday, gravestones
401, “Twenty silver pennies”
407-8, Footnote
424, “Common politeness”
469, “It always looks so empty on the maps.”
470, Half-Finished People footnote
472, “Yes, yes! We know!”
480, Magic
485, “What can one do?”
497, “Strange never even replied.” — if that’s it for them, that’s incredible
504, “It is a bog.”
506, “This is Scotland!”
510, “Farm”
515, Grace Adieu foreshadowing
523, “(He was not quite able to find the word he wanted.)”
525, “So that should Mrs Strange be brought to _that_ house…”
Volume III
542, “A skin he could tear with one fingernail”
554, “Then, in case there should be any doubt about the matter…”
567, “The man considered this for a moment and then…”
573, “He was more like a magician than ever before.”
576, “Only in England is it part of the constitution.”
584, “There was an elderly bunch of celery…”
586, Piranesi!
603, “A hard-boiled egg!”
609, “Purfois could not help looking hopefully about the room…”
624, “And once in a tone of extreme exasperation…”
638, “The moon itself was set among great architectural clouds…”
645, “He put it there.”
650, “Finally he went back to looking puzzled.”
663, Footnote
666, People and magic
674, “It gave him a little excitement to say the word…”
690, “…or because he was English.”
739, “Until now the Pillar of Darkness had been…”
784, “Someone mistook it for an orange.”
796, “Seven years later the Comtesse was guillotined...”
803, “Then be comforted!...”
And Strange’s behavior after Arabella’s death.