Reading the Chunksters discussion
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
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Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Week 14
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It seems like now that Strange's wife has died he is willing to take a lot more risks. The old lady with all of the cats was bizarre - she's definitely in her own world! Hopefully Strange can use a spell to become mad enough to see a fairy but not mad enough to be like the old cat lady.
I too thought the same thing, what will happen if Strange looses control over everything, I didn’t want Mr. Norrell to be the winner lol.
Nidhi wrote: "I too thought the same thing, what will happen if Strange looses control over everything, I didn’t want Mr. Norrell to be the winner lol."Exactly! It's interesting how they fight so indirectly.
Chapter summaries:
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50. The History and Practice of English Magic
Strange takes on three pupils, who see him every day. He also works on his book and does magic for the Army and the East India company. Norrell complains to Lord Liverpool about the government commissions, but Liverpool is unsympathetic, and insists on trusting his generals. He suggests that Norrell should follow Strange’s example and take pupils. Once the first volume of the book is published, Strange tells his pupils he must suspend their lessons while he travels abroad. Strange tells Sir Walter that it will take Norrell months to refute the book, and that he will be back before he is finished. He plans to go to Italy. Strange asks Sir Walter to take a message to Lady Pole, with his best wishes for her health. Strange’s trip abroad is part of an increasingly fashion. He writes to Segundus from Brussels about his travels. Murray receives two letters from Strange and Lord Byron, both complaining about the other. Strange has visited Byron in Geneva, and describes life with the Shelleys, Mrs Clairmont and Mr Polidori. Byron objects to Strange’s mode of dress. They also quarrel about politics and Waterloo. Strange complains that they want him to tell them about “vampyres”. Murray goes to see the owner of a bookshop, who tells him the book is selling well, but many of his customers are buying two copies, which is unusual. A young man appears and accuses Strange of cheating his reader by making the words in his books disappear. Murray goes to another bookshop where he meets Childermass, who tells him that Norrell has acknowledged using magic to erase the books, and is writing a letter to explain his actions. Childermass promises that Norrell will recompense Murray’s losses. Strange’s pupils protest against Norrell, and discuss how they might reverse the spell. Lord Portishead comes to them saying he has resigned from Norrell’s service and is now siding with Strange. Childermass arrives, and says that two unharmed copies of the book remain, one with Norrell and one with Strange. London is divided by the quarrel. Norrell writes a letter, which goes out without Lascelles’ proposed changes due to a misunderstanding with Childermass, which makes its contents incendiary. The Ministers return from the country and are unhappy with Norrell, and threaten to reconsider his plan to revive the Cinque Dragownes. They speak to Lascelles privately and ask him to convey their displeasure to Norrell. On arrival in Italy Strange’s mood changes, and he broods on his misery. He travels to Genoa, where he meets an English family he likes, The Greysteels, who he mentions in his letters home, mentioning their daughter several times. Norrell is upset when a theoretical magician opens a school in London. Magic shops proliferate.
51. A family by the name of Greysteel
Strange writes to Murray from Venice about a gondola trip with the Greysteels. The gondola reminds him of the magicians’ boxes of his childhood, and remembers a story of a child that was lost in one. His second letter reacts to reports of Norrell’s spell, and he threatens that if Norrell repeats this action he will respond in kind. Sir Walter tells Murray that a bookseller is selling books that purport to be Strange’s work. Strange’s third letter reports that his quarrel with Byron is over and they are now friends. They delight in the decline of Venice. Strange and the Greysteels visit a church, the Campo Santa Maria Formosa, where Strange talks to the daughter Flora. Flora is jealous of a young lady she saw with Strange and Byron, Strange says that she is a friend of Byron. He tells there he is considering a spell to summon a fairy assistant. In the room Strange lodges in there is a wooden figure on a pillar, who Strange addresses. He cuts himself and bleeds into a bowl, then falls asleep. Stephen Black steps out of the shadows and offers him a rag, which he takes and uses to mop the blood, but he does not see Stephen. The gentleman with thistle-down hair tells Stephen that Strange is trying to summon him. He asks Stephen to turn a page in Strange’s book to confuse him, and Strange’s response amuses him.
52. The old lady of Cannaregio
Before leaving England, Dr Greysteel was asked by a friend to visit an old lady in Venice. In Venice he can no longer find the letter with her address, they only have a scrap of paper with some directions to where she lives. They write a letter and gives it to their landlady, who tells them that the woman lives in Cannaregia, the ghetto, and the letter has been delivered by her brother-in-law, the lawyer Dr Tosetti. They go with Tosetti to visit and are shown into a room full of ancient books and candlesticks and a doll the size of a man, dressed as a woman. The servant comes back and tells them the old lady Delgado lives in an attic room. The door at the top of the staircase is closed, but they open it, finding a room full of cats, which alarms Dr Greysteel. Among the cats they find a thin old woman. The aunt, Dr Greysteel and Flora try to address her but she does not respond. They ask Tosetti to tell her they have brought money from a John McKean. Tosetti becomes fearful, and leaves the room. As the Greysteels are leaving, another cat appears on the window-sill, and the old lady springs up and addresses it in a strange language.
53. A little dead grey mouse
The next day Strange dines with the Greysteels. They talk about the old lady, and Flora asks if Strange can cure her madness. Dr Greysteel and the aunt fall asleep, and Strange talks to Flora about magical history. The next day Strange excuses himself from meeting them, citing his need to work. After three days Dr Greysteel persuades Strange to join him for a coffee. Strange looks pale and distracted, and after half an hour leaves saying he has an engagement. The aunt and Flora go to see the old woman again. They bring her a meal, but after leaving the aunt tells Emma that she already had a meal in front of her, a dead mouse on a saucer. When they have gone, the old lady starts to eat the meal, and Strange steps out of the shadows and introduces himself. She does not respond to him but he persists, telling her he wants to learn to be mad and removing the saucer. Mrs Delgado growls. He wants to take something of hers and can only think of the mouse. He starts to say a spell and the room fills with silvery light, bathing her in radiance. She disappears and is replaced by a girl in an old-fashioned gown. In turn she disappears and is replaced by a sequence of women growing older, and eventually a heap of crumpled silk and a grey cat. Strange starts to eat the mouse and sees strange visions, and wakes lying on his back with cats walking over him. He takes the mouse and leaves the room, and returns to his lodgings. The next day he crushes the mouse into a powder, then a tincture. He takes 14 drops, looks out of the window and sees people with candles where their faces should be, and laughs manically. Next day he goes out for coffee and sees a candle in the waiter’s eye, and cannot remember if this is normal. At midday he takes 9 more drops and starts seeing pineapples everywhere. Later the landlord calls but Strange cannot follow what he says. The next time he takes four drops and the effect is better. He thinks of the Greysteels and sees his magical papers, telling himself he knows they belong to a Jonathan Strange. He is about to start cutting the paper when he sees a black ribbon hanging from the ceiling, with tiny bones and a phial of liquid hanging from it. He addresses the wooden figure, telling him about Strange and his dead wife. He starts reciting the spell and sees a man in a leaf-green coat with thistle-down hair, and Strange asks him for snuff, and is struck by the posy on the ribbon.
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