Like Hilary Mantel, Clarke made the very notion of genre seem quaint. Infusing “great tradition” verisimilitude with the imaginative radicalism of Ursula Le Guin, it gave rise to what might be called magical archaism, a fictional strain that has since become widespread. But its lingering influence – perhaps all the more notable for her long quiescence – has not been fully appreciated. She is hardly obscure, of course her first novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, became a worldwide bestseller and was given a plush TV adaptation by the BBC. The real Rome, which I’ve visited, is still grand and beautiful but also rather disappointing in comparison.Susanna Clarke is a writer who has never quite been given her due. Piranesi makes everything look more Romantic (in the artistic sense) by meticulously detailing the decay and exaggerating the scale. One thing I like about the Views of Rome is the way everything is festooned with weeds while many of the arches and columns are half-buried by the accumulated dust of time. Re: Palmer and Piranesi, it should also be noted that the Roman ruins were all thoroughly excavated and cleaned up/repaired shortly after those etchings were made. Ramsey Campbell always vocalises it as a kind of weird double-syllable with no hard “C” at the beginning. There is an argument to be made that no English spelling of Cthulhu is the true one since the word is supposed to be the name of an alien being pronounced by an alien voice. I was going to draw attention to the Cthulhu spelling myself but thought fewer people might look at the piece if I did. Stephen: I’m fairly sure that Fiona Glen would know the Hokusai given the range of her references.
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