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Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: Difference between revisions
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{{work}}
{{Infobox book
[[File:Jonathan strange and mr norrell cover.jpg|frame]]▼
| title = Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
| caption = Black version of the first hardcover edition
| author = Susanna Clarke
| central theme = [T]he nature of "Englishness" and the boundaries between reason and unreason, Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Dane, and Northern and Southern English cultural tropes/stereotypes. ''(Wikipedia)''
| elevator pitch =
| genre = [[Alternate History]]
| publication date = September 8, 2004
| source page exists =
| wiki URL = https://hurtfew.mywikis.net/wiki/Main_Page
| wiki name = The Library at Hurtfew: A ''Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell'' compendium
}}
{{quote|''"Can a magician kill a man by magic?" Lord Wellington asked Strange.
''Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. "I suppose a magician might," he admitted, "but a gentleman never could."'' }}
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* [[Ax Crazy]]: The gentleman with the thistle-down hair. Though being a fairy his moods shift wildly and he can sometimes be talked out of murder. Sometimes. Do not count on this.
* [[Badass Bookworm]]: Jonathan Strange.
* [[The Beautiful Elite]]: The fairies.
* [[Beauty Equals Goodness]]: The Gentleman states this is the case to explain part of his regard for Stephen.
** Subverted: Though he is inarguably kind, well-meaning, and generally a decent person, Jonathan Strange is described as average looking at best by most everyone in the book.
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* [[Disc One Final Boss]]: The French army and eventually {{spoiler|Norrell}} for Jonathan Strange.
* [[Doorstopper]]: Don't drop the hardcover version of this book on your foot.
* [[Encyclopedia Exposita]]: Done a lot, with characters often debating the relative merits of the various books.
* [[Enigmatic Minion]]: Norrell's "Man of Business" Childermass is loyal but shows a surprising degree of autonomy and his motives aren't quite clear.
* [[The Fair Folk]]: They're so self centered that if it wasn't for their powerful magic they'd quickly end up extinct. It's debatable whether the Gentleman even understood the concept that other people might have different opinions. It's stated that Julius Caesar once served as judge of the Fairies, because at the time ''every Faerie alive'' stood accused of some crime or had close ties to an accused, so none were fit to stand in judgment.
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* [[Footnote Fever]]: And how! Some pages are actually more footnote than novel.
* [[Fundamentally Funny Fruit]]: The Jaywalking part of the [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]] of Strange's visions in Venice. Some of them are truly horrifying, of people with hollow faces and candles inside them. And then Strange starts to see pineapples everywhere to the point of this becoming a [[Running Gag]].
* [[Genius Loci]]: Absolutely everything! Every single tree, river, stone and even odder things like the dawn or various winds. All magic comes from making deals and alliances with various [[Genius Loci]] either directly or, in the case of most English magicians, indirectly thanks to deals made by the Raven King. The fact most humans don't realise these things are intelligent and thus don't learn how to talk with them is a serious impediment to their magical ability.
* [[Gentleman Wizard]]: The titular characters, as well as the magic societies, if you consider them wizards despite not actually doing any magic.
* [[The Ghost]]: The Raven King is only seen in flashbacks {{spoiler|until he finally has a [[One-Scene Wonder|short but impressive cameo]] in the third to last chapter, where he talks to Childermass (who is made to forget right away) and brings Vinculus back to life. Strange and Norrell, who try to summon him, only get to see a [[Faceless Eye|giant raven eye]] instead.}}
* [[Here There Were Dragons]]: At the novel's opening, magic has faded from Britain (it's still studied, but not practiced) and great magicians and fairy servants are only a memory.
* [[Ho Yay]]: A surprising lack of it in fandom, given that the two title characters apparently {{spoiler|spend the rest of their lives never able to be more than half an acre from each other}}, and Strange is apparently mostly fine with having to {{spoiler|leave his wife while being in this situation}} and that Childermass {{spoiler|will spend the rest of his life staring intently at Vinculus' naked body.}} Presumably the unsexiness of both Norrell and {{spoiler|Vinculus}} would explain that. Also, the gentleman with the thistle-down hair and his ... attachment to Stephen.
** Lascelles and Drawlight. Lascelles practically comes out to Mr. Woodhope, then insinuates that Woodhope is in love with Strange.
* [[I Have Many Names]]: The Raven King, aka John Uskglass, aka the Black King of the North, aka "the nameless slave" (ironically), etc. This actually figures into the plot when {{spoiler|Strange and Norrell try to magically locate the Raven King but can't figure out which name to use in the spell.}}
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* [[Lemony Narrator]]
* [[The Magic Comes Back]]: The main point of the book.
* [[Mysterious Past]]: The Raven King, who was abducted by fairies as a child and ''somehow'' managed to become both their king and a magician bordering on [[Physical God]].
** Also Childermass. We don't even know why he puts up with being Norrell's servant. See [[Enigmatic Minion]].
* [[No Name Given]]: The gentleman with the thistle-down hair.
** [[Word of God|The author has stated]] that her intention was for the Raven King to have [[No Name Given]], but in the end this was ''inverted'' as [[I Have Many Names|he has many names]].
* [[Not Quite Dead]]: {{spoiler|Vinculus after the hanging.}}
** He even makes a point of telling {{spoiler|the gentleman with the thistle-down hair}} that he's pretty hard to kill, but of course the fairy doesn't listen.
* [[Obliviously Evil]]: The Gentleman with the Thistle-Down Hair has no idea that what he's doing to his human "friends" is anything but kind and generous.
* [[Oop North]]: The Raven King formerly ruled Northern England as a separate kingdom from his capital at Newcastle. It's also stated that as a result of this the North of England is intrinsically more magical than the South.
* [[Order Versus Chaos]]: The conservative Norrell represents order, with the more likable Strange being more allied with chaos, given his interest in fairies and willingness to move parts of Spain and Belgium while helping the British in the Napoleonic wars. However despite his personality Norrell's viewpoint is shown to have merit: magic is dangerous and should be handled with care.
** However, Norrell's cautiousness leads to him being ignorant of ''true'' magic. He can't talk to the trees, the stones, or the water directly and instead relies on convoluted, messy written spells.
*** The same can be said for Strange until the end of the book, and Norrell's public views (which is what the reader usually sees) are considerably different from his real views. It's entirely plausible that Norrell understands "true" magic and if not Strange will tell him.
** This is an underlying theme of the book. Besides Norrell and Strange's relationship, there is also the struggle between Reason and Madness which is emphasized many times during the novel. {{spoiler|And, at one point, Strange goes mad.}}
* [[Pet the Dog]]: It's hard to dislike Jonathan Strange after he is kind to a mother cat during one of the battles with the French.
* [[Poisonous Friend]]: The Gentleman's relationship toward Stephen Black.
* [[Possession Implies Mastery]]: Subverted. Strange only has access to books ''about'' magic while Norrell owns all the books ''of'' magic, yet Strange proves himself to be Norrell's equal (if not his superior) in magical power. Also, both men are portrayed as having an inflated perception of their magical prowess which is minimal compared to earlier English magicians.
* [[Power Born of Madness]]: Insanity has several advantages to a magician, however there are other methods that don't require actual madness.
* [[Prophecy Twist]]
* [[Psycho Serum]]: Strange deliberately drinks essentially "distilled madness" out of the logic that since lunatics can see fairies, he needs to become insane to be able to see the gentleman with thistle-down hair (Strange's summoning spells worked, as the Gentleman himself admits to Stephen, but since the Gentleman did not wish to speak to Strange he remained invisible to him. The madness allowed Strange to see past the glamour).
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* [[Smug Snake]]: Lascelles, very much so.
* [[Spell Book]]: Many, both books ''about'' magic and books ''of'' magic. Norrell is hoarding the latter.
* [[Tall, Dark and Handsome]]: The Raven King, and many of his fairy warriors. Childermass is also tall and dark but [[Tall, Dark and Snarky|snarky]] rather than good-looking. All of them get bonus points for having [[Badass Long Hair|long hair]] and wearing [[Badass Longcoat|long black coats]].
** It should be noted that magicians are expected to be [[Tall, Dark and Snarky]].
* [[There Can Be Only One]]: Norrell makes it his special project to make sure no one practices magic except him. Even the theoretical magicians who meet in York are apparently too much of a threat.
* [[Those Two Guys]]: The fops Drawlight and Lascelles, at least at first. Honeyfoot and Segundus had a short run near the beginning.
* [[Took a Level
* [[Wham! Episode]]: The final chapter of book two: "Arabella".
* [[Where I Was Born and Razed]]: At the end of the novel, {{spoiler|Strange destroys his house before journeying into Faerie with Norrell. Technically, both Strange's and Norrell's houses become "lost", not destroyed. Sometimes people claim they can see Norrell's house from afar, while Strange's cat still finds Strange's house, slipping between the neighboring houses into another realm where humans can not follow}}.
* [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]]: It's noted how fairies who have the most powerful magic often have the same level of sanity as humans in madhouses. On the other hand, Norrell and Strange weren't insane when they performed their greatest feats of magic, and neither were the Aureate magicians of the time of the Raven King.
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{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Nebula Award]]
▲[[Category:World Fantasy Award]]
[[Category:Fantasy Literature]]
[[Category:Hugo Award]]
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