Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the debut novel by British writer Susanna Clarke. Published in 2004, it is an alternative history set in 19th-century England around the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Its premise is that magic once existed in England and has returned with two men: Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange. Centred on the relationship between these two men, the novel investigates the nature of "Englishness" and the boundaries between reason and unreason, Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Dane, and Northern and Southern English cultural tropes. It has been described as a fantasy novel, an alternative history, and a historical novel.
The narrative draws on various Romantic literary traditions, such as the comedy of manners, the Gothic tale, and the Byronic hero. The novel's language is a pastiche of 19th-century writing styles, such as those of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens.
Clarke began writing Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell in 1992; ten years later she submitted the manuscript for publication. It was accepted by Bloomsbury and published in September 2004, with illustrations by Portia Rosenberg. The novel was well received by critics and reached number three on the New York Times Best Seller list. It was longlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize and won the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Plot summary Volume I: Mr Norrell
The novel opens in northern England in 1806 with the Learned Society of York Magicians. The "magicians" of the society are in fact merely theoreticians, since no one in England has been able to perform real magic for several centuries. The society is stunned to learn of a "practical magician", Mr Gilbert Norrell. Norrell proves his skill as a magician by making the statues in York Cathedral speak, thereafter compelling the society to disband. John Childermass, Mr Norrell's factotum, convinces a member of the group, John Segundus, to write about the event for the London newspapers.
Segundus's article generates interest in Mr Norrell, who moves to London to revive practical English magic. He enters society with the help of two gentlemen about town, the superficial and foppish Christopher Drawlight and the shrewd Henry Lascelles, and meets a Cabinet Minister, Sir Walter Pole. To ingratiate himself, Mr Norrell attempts to resurrect Sir Walter's fiancée, Emma Wintertowne, from the dead. He summons a fairy — "the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair" — who strikes a bargain with Norrell to resurrect Emma, the price being that half of her restored life will be spent in Faerie. After news spreads of Emma's resurrection and happy marriage to Sir Walter, magic becomes respected, and the government seeks Norrell's aid in its ongoing war against Napoleon.
While living in London, Norrell encounters Vinculus, a disreputable street-magician vagabond, who relates a prophecy about a "nameless slave" and two magicians in England, but Norrell dismisses it and has Vinculus banished. While travelling, Vinculus meets Jonathan Strange and recites the same prophecy, prompting Strange to become a magician. Meanwhile, the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair takes a liking to Stephen Black, Sir Walter's Negro butler, and promises to make him a king. Emma (now Lady Pole) lapses into lassitude; she rarely speaks and is distraught by bells, music, and parties. Each night she and Stephen are forced to attend balls held by the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair in the Faerie kingdom of Lost-Hope, where they dance all night long; their attempts to communicate their situation are confounded by magic, with their speech rendered into nonsense.
Volume II: Jonathan Strange In 1809, Strange learns of Mr Norrell and travels to London to meet him. They immediately clash over the importance of John Uskglass (the legendary Raven King) to English magic. Strange argues that "without the Raven King there would be no magic and no magicians" while Norrell retorts that the Raven King abandoned England and should be forgotten. Despite their differing opinions and temperaments, Norrell acknowledges Strange's magical ability and takes him on as a pupil, but deliberately keeps some knowledge from him.
The Stranges become a popular couple in London. Lady Pole and Strange's wife, Arabella, become friends; during a visit, Arabella meets the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair, whom she assumes is a relative of the Poles. The Cabinet ministers find Strange easier to deal with than Norrell, so they send him to assist the Duke of Wellington on his Peninsular Campaign. For over a year, Strange helps the army: he creates roads, moves towns, and makes dead men speak. After he returns, he fails to cure George III's madness, but manages to save him from the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair, who is determined to make Black king in his place. On Napoleon's escape from Elba and return to power, Strange re-enters Wellington's service, helping defeat Napoleon and the French at the Battle of Waterloo.
Upon returning to England, Strange finds that Drawlight has been defrauding English citizens of their money by promising to fulfil their wishes through Strange's magic. Drawlight's schemes are publicized and he is arrested. Norrell strongly wishes for him to be hanged for magic-related crimes, but has insufficient political influence. Lascelles becomes closer to Norrell, threatening the relationship between Childermass and his master.
Frustrated with being Norrell's pupil, Strange pens a scathing review of a book outlining Norrell's theories on modern magic; in particular, Strange challenges Norrell's views of the Raven King. The English public splits into "Norrellites" and "Strangites". Norrell confides to Strange that he wasted years attempting to summon the Raven King, but Strange disagrees that the effort is futile; the two agree to part company, although not without regret. Strange returns home and works on his own book, The History and Practice of English Magic. Arabella goes missing, then suddenly reappears, sick and weak. Three days later she dies.
Volume III: John Uskglass
In 1816, Lady Pole attempts to shoot Mr Norrell. Childermass takes the bullet himself, but is not killed. Lady Pole is sent to the countryside and cared for by John Segundus, who has an inkling of the magic surrounding her. During travels in the north, Black meets Vinculus, who recites his prophecy: "the nameless slave shall be a king in a strange country ..." Stephen, who was born into slavery and does not know his true name, believes it applies to him, but the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair argues that it refers to the Raven King.
Strange travels to Venice and meets Flora Greysteel there. They become fond of each other and Strange's friends believe he may marry again. However, after experimenting with dangerous magic that threatens his sanity, he discovers that Arabella is alive and being held captive alongside Lady Pole in Lost-Hope as a result of the bargain Norrell struck with the fairy. The Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair curses Strange with an "Impenetrable Darkness", a pillar of darkness that engulfs him and follows him wherever he goes. Thereafter, Strange's strenuous efforts to rescue Arabella take their toll: his letters to his friends appear crazed and so his public reputation suffers. At Strange's request, Flora moves with her family to Padua and secludes herself, along with a mirror given to her by Strange. Drawlight is sent by Lascelles and Norrell to Venice to find out more about Strange's activities and on his arrival he is magically brought before Strange. Strange instructs him to deliver messages to Norrell, Childermass, and the magical community within England before dismissing him. Strange then re-invokes the old alliances that exist in England between the forces of nature and John Uskglass. This sparks a magical renaissance, reopening roads to Faerie, and causing many to spontaneously perform magic, but Norrell fails to grasp its significance.
Drawlight attempts to deliver the messages but is intercepted by Lascelles, who murders him, because if Norrell learnt the truth it would damage Lascelles's control over Norrell. Strange, bringing the Impenetrable Darkness with him, asks Norrell to help him undo Arabella's enchantment by summoning John Uskglass. Childermass explores a corner of Faerie and stumbles upon a castle, whose guardian challenges him to a duel; he declines. Lascelles takes on the guardian, wishing to preserve English honour, and succeeds in killing him, but this causes him to be trapped in the role of guardian himself.
Meanwhile, Childermass receives the message meant for him by Strange; he and Segundus use magic to break the enchantment over Lady Pole. Enraged by this, the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair determines to place a second deadly curse on Lady Pole, as Faerie tradition demands. En route, the Gentleman hangs and kills Vinculus after they encounter him, with Black forced to watch. During these events, Norrell and Strange attempt a spell that would cause the natural forces of England to pay homage to John Uskglass. Not knowing his true name, they dedicate it to the "nameless slave". Instead of Uskglass, the power is vested in Black, who uses his momentary control of all of English magic to destroy the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair. Then, leaving England forever by one of the Faerie roads, Black sheds his name and becomes the new king of the now-blossoming kingdom of Lost-Hope.
Childermass discovers Vinculus's body and notes that it is tattooed with the last work of John Uskglass. A man appears; he calls Childermass his servant, though Childermass does not recognize him, then brings Vinculus back to life and performs other feats of magic with ease. The mysterious man, heavily implied to be John Uskglass himself, then disappears, removing Childermass's and Vinculus's memories of the encounter.
As a result of the imprecision of the fairy's curse, which was placed on "the English magician", Norrell and his library are trapped along with Strange within the Impenetrable Darkness, and they cannot move more than a certain distance from each other. Upon the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair's death, Arabella comes through the mirror in Padua, where Flora is waiting for her upon instruction of Strange. Childermass informs the Learned Society of York Magicians that their contract is void, and they can study magic again. He shows the now-restored Vinculus as proof that John Uskglass's book of magic survives, tattooed upon his body. Two months later, Strange has a conversation with Arabella, who is still living in Padua. He explains that he and Norrell are studying magic together and intend to learn to remove the Darkness they are both trapped in, but will adventure into other worlds in the meantime. Neither wishes to take Arabella to Faerie again, so Strange promises to return to her when he has dispelled the Darkness and tells her not to be a widow till then, to which she agrees.
Characters
Gilbert Norrell: England's first "practical magician" in centuries. He keeps a large collection of books of magic, which he has spent years purchasing to keep out of the hands of others, in his library at Hurtfew Abbey in Yorkshire. He is dry, pedantic, and querulous, and regards those who do not share his views on magic with deep disdain. Jonathan Strange: a young gentleman of Shropshire who becomes England's second magician and Mr Norrell's pupil. He marries Arabella Woodhope, the daughter of a clergyman and his friend since childhood. Unlike Norrell, he is pleasant and sociable. Stephen Black: Sir Walter Pole's butler and the head servant of the Pole household. He is of African descent, the son of a slave woman from Sir Walter's grandfather's estate in Jamaica. He catches the attention of the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair.