Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
A historical fantasy set in nineteenth-century England, imagining the return of magic and following the rivalry between Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. By weaving real history with magical tradition, it explores power, knowledge, and ambition on an epic scale.
Work Information
A historical fantasy in which magic returns to nineteenth-century England.
A historical fantasy set in nineteenth-century England, imagining the return of magic and following the rivalry between Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. By weaving real history with magical tradition, it explores power, knowledge, and ambition on an epic scale.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Pub Plc USA
- Published
- 2004-09-30
- Pages
- 782 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 16.1 x 5.86 x 25.1 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9781582344164
- ISBN-10
- 1582344167
- Price
- 2641 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Science Fiction & Fantasy/Fantasy/Magic & Wizards
English magicians were once the wonder of the known world, with fairy servants at their beck and call; they could command winds, mountains, and woods. But by the early 1800s they have long since lost the ability to perform magic. They can only write long, dull papers about it, while fairy servants are nothing but a fading memory. But at Hurtfew Abbey in Yorkshire, the rich, reclusive Mr Norrell has assembled a wonderful library of lost and forgotten books from England's magical past and regained some of the powers of England's magicians. He goes to London and raises a beautiful young woman from the dead. Soon he is lending his help to the government in the war against Napoleon Bonaparte, creating ghostly fleets of rain-ships to confuse and alarm the French. All goes well until a rival magician appears. Jonathan Strange is handsome, charming, and talkative-the very opposite of Mr Norrell. Strange thinks nothing of enduring the rigors of campaigning with Wellington's army and doing magic on battlefields. Astonished to find another practicing magician, Mr Norrell accepts Strange as a pupil. But it soon becomes clear that their ideas of what English magic ought to be are very different. For Mr Norrell, their power is something to be cautiously controlled, while Jonathan Strange will always be attracted to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic. He becomes fascinated by the ancient, shadowy figure of the Raven King, a child taken by fairies who became king of both England and Faerie, and the most legendary magician of all. Eventually Strange's heedless pursuit of long-forgotten magic threatens to destroy not only his partnership with Norrell, but everything that he holds dear. Sophisticated, witty, and ingeniously convincing, Susanna Clarke's magisterial novel weaves magic into a flawlessly detailed vision of historical England. She has created a world so thoroughly enchanting that eight hundred pages leave readers longing for more.
Susanna Clarke lives in Cambridge, England. This is her first book. Susanna Clarke lives in Cambridge, England. This is her first book.
Reviews
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Gripping and esoteric
A complete alternative world, with a history and traditions almost but not quite unlike the world we inhabit. A tour de force of the imagination. A book, in fact, that I wish I'd written.
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面白かったー！お話を堪能！
読むかどうか迷ってたのですが、この21版を立ち読みして即購入。800gもあったけど、続きが 読みたくて持ち歩き(幸いバラバラになりもせず)、読み終わってからの３日間、余韻に浸って 他の本を手にとる気になりませんでした。 《踏み切ったポイント》 (1)巻頭のAudrey Niffenegger("The Time Traveler's Wife)の巧みなIntroduction (2)巻末の作者インタビューの「今週のトップ10」 ==>チェスタトンとかクレストマンシーとかアラン・ムーアとか） (3)ヒューゴと世界幻想文学大賞を受賞している ---*---*---*--- 1006頁にわたって語られる２人の魔術師の物語を、架空の"English Magic"の歴史を、巧みに 織り込まれた史実を、時に本文よりも熱いマニアックな（実際は架空のトピックの）注釈を、ただただ楽しみました。恩田陸さんあたりがこんな話書いてくれないかなー。「ネクロポリス」より長い、大嘘つき・大風呂敷・大長編。 １９世紀・エドワード朝やナポレオンに興味がなくても大丈夫でした。わざと古めかしい英語を使ってたりしますが、読みにくくはなかったです。 ヨークの大聖堂とニューキャッスルに行ってみたくなりました（楽しく騙されている）。
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ハリーポッターでは物足りない大人に。
８００項あまりの長編に加え、１９世紀初頭という時代設定に合わせた文体が手に取るのを躊躇させますが、史実が如くに語られる魔法使いの歴史とその膨大な脚注が登場人物達の存在に厚みを与え、ナポレオンやウォータールーの戦いなど歴史的事実を背景にするなど、飽きさせない展開に難なく読み終えました。物語は３編に分けられ、始めの２編で登場人物や状況が丁寧に描かれ、最後には息もつかせぬ結末へと導かれます。始めの２編が長過ぎるとの向きもありますが全体的に無駄がなく、またこの作品が著者の処女作であることを鑑みると大変しっかりした構成に驚かされます。題材が「イギリスの魔法使い」という事でハリーポッターと比較され易いかもしれませんが、魔法そのものよりむしろ妖精などの民間伝承や歴史に重点が置かれ、ハリーポッターのような判り易い子供向けの勧善懲悪もありません。ファンタジーが好きな人は勿論、歴史上実在の人物も登場するので、ある程度英文学に親しんだ人あるいは歴史好きな人にもお薦めです。
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Beautiful hardcover edition of this incredible story. Book arrived packaged well.
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Este libro es una verdadera obra maestra. Yo lo tengo en mi top 10 de fantasía, junto con Babel de R.F. Kuang. La cosa es, si estás buscando acción, adrenalina y escenas súper impresionantes de combate con magia; no las vas a encontrar aquí. Este libro no es para todos (eso no quiere decir que no sea bueno), es más cómo una ficción histórica con magia para condimentar la narrativa; pero si son de los pacientes que deciden darle una oportunidad, no se van a arrepentir.
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Turkish 41 yo lady here. I was captivated by the atmosphere, wit, and cleverness. Clarke’s command of language is remarkable, and her Victorian pastiche is near perfect. The magical world building is subtle and textured, and I appreciated the dry humor and occasional flashes of brilliance. But the last 300 pages dragged both physically and emotionally. The book is literally too heavy (mine fell apart at the spine at page 418), and the narrative weight doesn’t justify its length. The ending felt anticlimactic: so much buildup, so little catharsis. Too much time is spent on irrelevant side details, and the emotional payoff between characters felt muted. I didn’t mind the bittersweet tone — I just wanted it to hit harder.
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Not enough is said about how this is an absolutely great contemporary (albeit period) novel. Innovative, grand, great narrative drive, wonderful fantastical cosmology - and ultimately, a rivalry between the Age’s two greatest magicians. What’s not to love?!
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... je trouve difficilement d'autres mos pour le décrire (ou alors "envoûtant", ou encore "fascinant")tant il est vrai que l'auteur de ce pavé doit avoir lancé un charme sur ses lecteurs pour les pousser à aller jusqu'à la dernière page des aventures de Jonathan Strange et de Mr Norrell. Enfin, quand je dis "aventures", je devrais peut-être plutôt dire "tribulations"; car enfin, ce millier de pages (dans l'édition broché, et qu'est-ce que ce sera en français !!!...)ne relate que fort peu de hauts faits héroïques, de cavalcades échevelées et de duels à l'aube. En revanche, les discussions interminables et académiques foisonnent, de même que les notes de bas de page, pour la plupart pseudo-bibliographique, qui arrivent parfois à tenir la majeure partie de plusieurs pages d'affilée pour une seule note ... Et pourtant, malgré ces composantes en apparence assez peu passionnantes, on se prend au jeu et on suit avec intérêt l'ascension en cette Angleterre de début du 19ème siècle des deux hommes qui ont décidé de raviver la magie dans leur pays. Comme l'a souligné un des commentaires précédents, l'écriture fait très austennienne, avec son mélange de petites observations ironiques, d'humour so british et de leçons de savoir-vivre ... Finalement, tant qu'elle ne décale pas l'heure du thé, la magie peut avoir droit de cité chez les gens bien élevés ...
Related Literary Awards
- Hugo Award Edition 52 (2005) ・Winner