基本信息出版社：Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
页码：1024 页
出版日期：2005年09月
ISBN：0747579881
条形码：9780747579885
装帧：平装
正文语种：英语
外文书名：大魔法师之战(小说)
内容简介 Two magicians shall appear in England. The first shall fear me; the second shall long to behold me The year is 1806. England is beleaguered by the long war with Napoleon, and centuries have passed since practical magicians faded into the nation's past. But scholars of this glorious history discover that one remains: the reclusive Mr Norrell whose displays of magic send a thrill through the country. Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange. Young, handsome and daring, Strange is the very opposite of Norrell. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men which overwhelms the one between England and France. And their own obsessions and secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine.
作者简介 Susanna Clarke lives in Cambridge. This is her first novel.
编辑推荐 Amazon.com Review
It's 1808 and that Corsican upstart Napoleon is battering the English army and navy. Enter Mr. Norrell, a fusty but ambitious scholar from the Yorkshire countryside and the first practical magician in hundreds of years. What better way to demonstrate his revival of British magic than to change the course of the Napoleonic wars? Susanna Clarke's ingenious first novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, has the cleverness and lightness of touch of the Harry Potter series, but is less a fairy tale of good versus evil than a fantastic comedy of manners, complete with elaborate false footnotes, occasional period spellings, and a dense, lively mythology teeming beneath the narrative. Mr. Norrell moves to London to establish his influence in government circles, devising such powerful illusions as an 11-day blockade of French ports by English ships fabricated from rainwater. But however skillful his magic, his vanity provides an Achilles heel, and the differing ambitions of his more glamorous apprentice, Jonathan Strange, threaten to topple all that Mr. Norrell has achieved. A sparkling debut from Susanna Clarke--and it's not all fairy dust. --Regina Marler --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
The drawing room social comedies of early 19th-century Britain are infused with the powerful forces of English folklore and fantasy in this extraordinary novel of two magicians who attempt to restore English magic in the age of Napoleon. In Clarke's world, gentlemen scholars pore over the magical history of England, which is dominated by the Raven King, a human who mastered magic from the lands of faerie. The study is purely theoretical until Mr. Norrell, a reclusive, mistrustful bookworm, reveals that he is capable of producing magic and becomes the toast of London society, while an impetuous young aristocrat named Jonathan Strange tumbles into the practice, too, and finds himself quickly mastering it. Though irritated by the reticent Norrell, Strange becomes the magician's first pupil, and the British government is soon using their skills. Mr. Strange serves under Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars (in a series of wonderful historical scenes), but afterward the younger magician finds himself unable to accept Norrell's restrictive views of magic's proper place and sets out to create a new age of magic by himself. Clarke manages to portray magic as both a believably complex and tedious labor, and an eerie world of signs and wonders where every object may have secret meaning. London politics and talking stones are portrayed with equal realism and seem indisputably part of the same England, as signs indicate that the Raven King may return. The chock-full, old-fashioned narrative (supplemented with deft footnotes to fill in the ignorant reader on incidents in magical history) may seem a bit stiff and mannered at first, but immersion in the mesmerizing story reveals its intimacy, humor and insight, and will enchant readers of fantasy and literary fiction alike.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School - This delightful first novel exerts a strong and seductive pull on readers who might otherwise balk at its length. Like Philip Pullman's work, it is dark, deep, and challenging. It compares dead-on with Jane Austen's novels, and YAs who have underappreciated her wit may find it delicious when applied to magicians. Clarke even tosses in a bit of Dickens and Hardy - with great characterization, subplots, and a sense of fate bearing down hard on us. At stake is the future of English magic, which has nearly dwindled to all theory by the early 1800s, after centuries of prominence. When the book opens, only the reclusive and jealous Gilbert Norrell is practicing. Enter Jonathan Strange, a natural who has never studied magic formally. Norrell resents, then adopts Strange as a pupil whose growth he insists on controlling until the two come to the impasse that nearly leads them to destroy one another. Strange champions the 12th century's "Raven King" as the greatest magician in English history and hopes to summon him from Faerie, an alternate world. Norrell is determined to erase both from English memory - to hide the fact that he himself made a bargain with a fairy that has cost three people their lives, though their hearts go on dismally beating. Expertly written and imagined, the book is a feast for fans of fantasy, historical novels, or simply fabulously engrossing reads. - Emily Lloyd, formerly at Rehoboth Beach Public Library, DE
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From The New Yorker
This vast début fantasy novel, cast somewhat in the Harry Potter mold, is set in early-nineteenth-century England, where two men, Gilbert Norrell and his pupil Jonathan Strange, revive the once-thriving practice of the dark arts. After aiding the British against Napoleon, the magicians fall out over interpretations of wizardly philosophy. Meanwhile, a malevolent fairy accidentally set loose by Norrell enchants, among others, Strange's wife. Clarke's ability to construct a fully imagined world—much of it explained in long, witty footnotes—is impressive, and there are some suspenseful moments. But her attempt to graft a fantasy narrative onto such historical realities as the Battle of Waterloo is more often awkward than clever, and the period dialogue is simply twee. Worse, the tension between the forces of good and evil—crucial in any magical tale—is surprisingly slack; the arch-villain is a cartoonish fop whose petulant misdeeds lack menace.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* It's surprising that this first novel works at all. Readers have to accept an especially fanciful premise but, as it quickly becomes obvious, acceptance presents no difficulty. This novel took 10 years to research and write, according to publicity material; for readers at least, the author's arduous task results in a smashing success--it's an exceptionally compelling, brilliantly creative, and historically fine-tuned piece of work. The brilliance of the novel lies in how Clarke so completely and believably creates a world within a world: the "outside" world being early-nineteenth-century England, as Napoleon the eagle looms over all of Europe; the "inner" world being the community of English magicians. At the story's outset, magic in the land is moribund; magicians, who convene in various convocations, "did not want to see magic done; they only wished to read about it in books." But circumstances arise that cause magic again to become manifest, not simply discussed as an academic subject; this resurrection has extensive consequences for the heretofore stately state of magic in the English realm. History and fantasy form a beautiful partnership in this detailed, authentic, and heartfelt novel, which is part fairy tale and part epic. The inner world it creates is completely furnished and credible; the outside world is exact in its accuracy. Written in a style correlative to the writing and speaking of the time, which the reader will come to find quite mellifluous, this novel is, in a word, charming. Comparisons to Harry Potter are inevitable but not distracting, for this novel stands on its own. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
'An elegant and witty historical fantasy which deserves to be judged on its own (considerable) merit' Sunday Telegraph 'Full of spells, bad weather, statues that talk, haunted ballrooms and sinister gentlemen with thistledown hair be enchanted! *****' Elle 'A nourishing, 19th-century-style novel that will warm readers through any number of dark and stormy nights Clarke makes her magical story ridiculously engrossing' Daily Telegraph 'This is, in both the precise and the colloquial sense, a fabulous book a highly original and compelling work' Sunday Times
Review
“What kind of magic can make an 800-page novel seem too short? Whatever it is, debut author Susanna Clarke is possessed by it.”
—USA Today on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
“Ravishing…A chimera of a novel that combines the dark mythology of fantasy with the delicious social comedy of Jane Austen into a masterpiece of the genre that rivals Tolkien...What really sets Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell apart is its treatment of magic. Clarke’s magic is a melancholy, macabre thing, confabulated out of snow and rain and mirrors and described with absolute realism ... Clarke has another rare faculty: she can depict evil ... [she] reaches down into fantasy’s deep, dark, twisted roots, down into medieval history and the scary, Freudian fairy-tale stuff. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell reminds us that there’s a reason fantasy endures: it’s the language of our dreams. And our nightmares.’
—Time
“Clarke’s imagination is prodigious, her pacing is masterly and she knows how to employ dry humor in the service of majesty.”
—The New York Times on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
“Unquestionably the finest English novel of the fantastic written in the last seventy years. It’s funny, moving, scary, otherworldly, practical and magical, a journey through light and shadow—a delight to read, both for the elegant and precise use of words, which Ms. Clarke deploys as wisely and dangerously as Wellington once deployed his troops, and for the vast sweep of the story, as tangled and twisting as old London streets or dark English woods. Closing Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel after 800 pages, my only regret was that it wasn’t twice the length.... From beginning to end, a perfect pleasure.”
—Neil Gaiman, author of Anansi Boys, American Gods, and the Sandman series
“Immense, intelligent, inventive…Clarke is a restrained and witty writer with an arch and eminently readable style.”
—Entertainment Weekly on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
“Over the course of nearly 800 pages Clarke channels the world of Jane Austen, the Gothic tale, the Silver-Fork Society novel, military adventure à la Bernard Sharpe or Patrick O’Brian, romantic Byronism and Walter Scott’s passion for the heroic Northern past. She orchestrates all these fictive elements consummately well…Many books are to be read, some are to be studied, and a few are meant to be lived in for weeks. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is of this last kind.”
—The Washington Post on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
“Combining folklore and fantasy with horror-story imagination, [Clarke] creates a Napoleonic-era England alive with the promise—and danger—of uncontrollable forces…Clarke’s sober style keeps the fantasy grounded, and meticulous historical research brings the magical episodes to terrifying life.”
—People (Critic’s choice, four stars) on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
“The most sparkling literary debut of the year.”
—Salon on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
“Mesmerizing.”
—Harper’s Bazaar on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
“This 800-page work of fantasy—think Harry Potter sprinkled with the dust of Tolkien and Alasdair Gray—posits an extraordinary alternative history of England where magic, fairies, spirits and enchantments were once part of everyday life...This incredible work of the imagination, which took Clarke more than 10 years to write, ends all too soon.”
—New York Post (four stars) on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
“Here is a writer who remembers that true fairy tales carry a sting and the creatures themselves were never properly domesticated to the nursery. Her uncanny book is an object lesson in the pleasures—and risks—of enchantment.”
—Village Voice on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
“Gorgeous…A terrific, phenomenally ambitious book.”
—The Onion on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
“An instant classic, one of the finest fantasies ever written.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
“Extraordinary…Will enchant readers of fantasy and of literary fiction alike.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
“A smashing success…History and fantasy form a beautiful partnership in this detailed, authentic, and heartfelt novel.”
—Booklist (starred review) on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
“Wonderful. At almost 800 pages, it is an immense, densely plotted story, peopled with a a vast cast of extremely well-drawn characters, filled with unexpected events, ancient prophesies,varied and exotic settings, and all manner of human and inhuman conflict, and it is built one splendid scene upon the next.”
—Toronto Globe and Mail on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
“Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell comes across as equal parts Jane Austen and Charles Dickens flavored with Rowling and Tolkien. It’s inarguably one of the year’s best and most original works.”—National Post (Canada)
“Combines the wit of Jane Austen with the subterranean spookiness of the works of Arthur Conan Doyle.”
—Seattle Times on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
“An enthralling, unique read.”
—Baltimore Sun
“Witty dialogue, cunning observations, and intriguing footnotes…[A] sweeping adventure full of telling details, mixing history and fantasy to create worlds of deep imagination that seem as real as our own.”
—San Francisco Chronicle on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
“While Jonathan Strange is every bit as whimsical and playful as the Harry Potter books, it is also grave and upsetting, the very opposite of comforting children’s entertainment…Clarke has delivered a book of universal truths and unexpectedly heartbreaking acuity.”
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram
“Utterly enchanting. [Clarke’s] union of historical fiction and fantasy is fresh, it is surprising, and it will appeal to those who want nothing more than to be carried away to a world crafted by a superb storyteller.”
—Denver Post on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
“Extraordinary…If Harry Potter is the kind of book that makes you want to be a kid again, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the kind of novel that will remind you that being an adult should be a whole lot more fun.”
—Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“I found it absolutely compelling. The narrative drive is irresistible and I could not stop reading until I had finished it. The narrator’s tone is beautifully judged. It’s full of wonderfully deadpan humour and its reticence leaves the reader to make up his or her mind about the characters. I loved all the invented scholarship and was fascinated by the mixture of historical realism and utterly fantastic events. I almost began to believe that there really was a tradition of ‘English magic’ that I had not heard about. The author captures the period and its literary conventions with complete conviction. And a large part of the fun is seeing how an early nineteenth century novel copes with the impact of magic. It’s an astonishing achievement. I can’t think of anything that is remotely like it.”
—Charles Palliser, author of The Quincunx, on Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
"What kind of magic can make an 800-page novel seem too short? Whatever it is, [Clarke] is possessed by it." (USA Today )
"Ravishing.A chimera of a novel that combines the dark mythology of fantasy with the delicious social comedy of Jane Austen." (Time )
"Clarke's imagination is prodigious, her pacing is masterly and she knows how to employ dry humor in the service of majesty." (The New York Times )
"Unquestionably the finest English novel of the fantastic written in the last seventy years....From beginning to end, a perfect pleasure." (Neil Gaiman )
"Immense, intelligent, inventive.Clarke is a restrained and witty writer with an arch and eminently readable style." (Entertainment Weekly )
"Clarke's sober style keeps the fantasy grounded, and meticulous historical research brings the magical episodes to terrifying life." (People )
"The most sparkling literary debut of the year." (Salon )
"Mesmerizing." (Harper's Bazaar )
"This incredible work of the imagination, which took Clarke more than 10 years to write, ends all too soon." (New York Post )
"Her uncanny book is an object lesson in the pleasures-and risks-of enchantment." (Village Voice )
"Gorgeous.A terrific, phenomenally ambitious book." (The Onion )
"An instant classic, one of the finest fantasies ever written." (Kirkus Reviews )
"Extraordinary.Will enchant readers of fantasy and of literary fiction alike." (Publishers Weekly )
"A smashing success.History and fantasy form a beautiful partnership in this detailed, authentic, and heartfelt novel." (Booklist )
"Wonderful....built one splendid scene upon the next." (Toronto Globe and Mail )
"Inarguably one of the year's best and most original works." (National Post (Canada) )
"Combines the wit of Jane Austen with the subterranean spookiness of the works of Arthur Conan Doyle." (Seattle Times )
"An enthralling, unique read." (Baltimore Sun )
"Witty dialogue, cunning observations, and intriguing footnotes....create worlds of deep imagination that seem as real as our own." (San Francisco Chronicle )
"Clarke has delivered a book of universal truths and unexpectedly heartbreaking acuity." (Fort Worth Star-Telegram )
"Utterly enchanting. [Clarke's] union of historical fiction and fantasy is fresh, it is surprising....a superb storyteller." (Denver Post )
"Extraordinary." (Atlanta Journal-Constitution )
"I found it absolutely compelling....It's an astonishing achievement. I can't think of anything that is remotely like it." (Charles Palliser ) --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.