http://www.theottery.com/2007/04/jonathan-strange-or-the-return-of-english-magic-subtitle-mine/ "If an otter can't have fun doing something, it just simply won't do it." Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:07:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 http://www.theottery.com/2007/04/jonathan-strange-or-the-return-of-english-magic-subtitle-mine/#comment-498 mink Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:05:00 +0000 http://www.theottery.com/2007/04/jonathan-strange-or-the-return-of-english-magic-subtitle-mine/#comment-498 Oh good - I thought I was the only one disappointed. I agree with your assessment that it is ingenious in plot, charming in style, striking in setting, and deft in characterization, yet unable to evoke the most delightful of myth-encounter experiences, Sehnsucht, as you put it. My hunch was that this absence of the beauty/pain/longing phenomenon is due to a lack of transcendence. Despite the wealth of detail and careful coincidence of "real" history and imagined history, Clarke's world operates on an interesting variety of physical, psychological, and philosophical levels, but neglects to incorporate a spiritual level. The characters seem limited by the absence of a world containing their world. Oh good - I thought I was the only one disappointed. I agree with your assessment that it is ingenious in plot, charming in style, striking in setting, and deft in characterization, yet unable to evoke the most delightful of myth-encounter experiences, Sehnsucht, as you put it. My hunch was that this absence of the beauty/pain/longing phenomenon is due to a lack of transcendence. Despite the wealth of detail and careful coincidence of “real” history and imagined history, Clarke’s world operates on an interesting variety of physical, psychological, and philosophical levels, but neglects to incorporate a spiritual level. The characters seem limited by the absence of a world containing their world.

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