Even the monumental-ness and wildness of the House reminded me of the Kings Roads in a fashion. In regards to the original post I read her novel and experienced the worlds relationship to the magic system that she already established so I suppose I wanted and did read Piranesi as an extension of the same universe, the world of the raven king. Susanna Clarke literally hits every check for me in terms of what a fantasy should be. I mostly stick to art history books and biographies so I rarely delve into fantasy anymore unless there’s something that really draws me in about them. I hadn’t read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and the Ladies of Grace Adieu until just last year. only one day to go!!! I’d love to hear if you think my marbling reflects the story btw? (Pics in my post history) I LOVE this book, I made a marbled edition of it for the publisher and I’ve been dying to talk to other people about it haha. I choose to think that when he was recognising the statues in people in Real London, it was saying how the statues represented archetypes of humanity, and perhaps there’s still bits of the old ways and magic under the surface waiting to be noticed.īut maybe that’s too narrow a take - I really do think there are parallels with mental health and I think it can definitely be read that way! Like, when he finds the torn out journal pages, that could very clearly be like revisiting a repressed traumatic memory?! I would expect it to change, ie the floods to get stronger and start bringing down parts of it etc, to show the fracturing of his constructed world. So my main argument for it NOT being a metaphor/allegory for mental health struggles is that the House remained the same, it wasn’t affected by Piranesi’s discovery of his old self - it was like he was just passing through it. Ooh I actually love this take! To be totally honest, I actually thought that was where it was going when we started getting the hints about ‘our’ world breaking into the House - like I thought it was going to be that Piranesi had constructed this place in his mind to avoid a trauma or something, and i was vaguely interested to see how it would have been ‘brought down’ by someone breaking through. In that sense it is a ecological story as well, a parable of living within our means and respecting our world. Given that this is Clarke, we can't discount the requirement that those places touched with "magic" actively support our protagonists, in a nuanced way.
In this sense Raphael is the end of our protagonist's journey, as she has managed to work a harrowing job without loosing her essential grace and sense of wonder. In a larger sense Piranesi is about how finding joy and fulfillment in the world fundamentally changes a person, and about the delicate balance required to live in our world and hold on to this sense of wonder without falling into solipsism. The House was his great teacher, and I read that when he can map those lessons on to the world around him-recognize the archetypes of humanity in this world-he can begin to knit his selves back together. On his return he is neither Matthew nor Piranesi, but a third individual mediating between the emotional experiences and knowledge of both. He is alone but not alone, as he spends his days meditating on what the statues say about humanity writ large. Yet he achieves a kind of serenity as he gives himself over to the House. A new person is birthed in the traumatized shell of the old. Rose Sorensen/Piranesi definitely represses the trauma of his forced removal to the House. At first I thought of a life well lived-and that is definitely there-but given the striking way it ends, I think it is also a meditation on identity. That said, Piranesi is most definitely an allegory.
I think that we are always meant to take Clarke at her word with regard to alternate worlds. Piranesi warned Ketterley of the flood and knew exactly what to do in this event Piranesi survived because he knew the House best.Just finished, and I agree about how wonderful the book was. The key to understanding the scene lies in not just who won but also how. Though unarmed, the emerging victor is Piranesi while Ketterley dies of drowning. As the hall floods, Ketterley takes shots at Piranesi and 16.
Ketterley has prepared a lifeboat and a gun to kill 16 and Piranesi with. This scene is a physical depiction of a philosophical argument between Piranesi and Ketterley. In the climax, we have a confrontation that involves 16, Piranesi, and Ketterley. Of all the scenes, this is where you can clearly see for yourself the message of ‘Piranesi.’ A lot of people ask ‘Is Piranesi about trauma?’ or ‘Is Piranesi about mental health?’ To me, those are valid readings but it’s not the reading I’m going to go with, and the climax of the story, on top of other things, cements my stance.
0 kommentar(er)
