Episode 91: On Susanna Clarke's 'Piranesi'

Weird Studies

Phil Ford and J. F. Martel

Society & Culture, Arts, Philosophy

4.8 • 688 Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2021

⏱️ 84 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Phil and JF explore the vast palatial halls of Susanna Clarke's novel Piranesi. Set in an otherworld consisting of endless galleries filled with enigmatic statues, Piranesi is the story of a man who lives alone -- or nearly alone -- in a dream labyrinth. As usual, our discussion leads to unexpected places every bit as strange as Clarke's setting, from Borge's infinite library and Lovecraft's alien cities to Renaissance Europe, where the art of memory was synonymous with wisdom and magic. SHOW NOTES Susanna Clarke, Piranesi Joshua Clover, 1989: Dylan Didn't Have This to Sing About , The Matrix (BFI Modern Classics John Crowley, Little, Big Christopher Priest, The Prestige (+Christopher Nolan's screen adaptation) Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell JF Martel, "The Real as Sacrament" (forthcoming?) Frances Yates, The Art of Memory Mary Carruthers, The Book of Memory: A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture Plato, Phaedrus Henri Bergson, Matter and Memory Jorge Luis Borges, "The Library of Babel" Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Carceri d'invenzione Maurits Cornelis Escher, Duch artist H. P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space Gyrus, North: The Rise and Fall of the Polar Cosmos Emerald Tablet, foundational Hermetic text Joshua Foer, Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything Weird Studies ep. 42 - On Pauline Oliveros, with Kerry O'Brien Giovanni colleague? Allen Ginsberg, "America" Rodney Ascher, A Glitch in the Matrix Walter J. Ong, American philosopher Weird Studies ep. 71: The Medium is the Message Thomas Ligotti, "The Night School" Thomas Aquinas, Christian philosopher and theologian Erasmus, Christian philosopher Marsilio Ficino, Christian philosopher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Spectrevision Radio
0:03.3	Welcome to Weird Studies, an arts and philosophy podcast with hosts Phil Ford and J.F. Martel.
0:23.3	For more episodes or to support the podcast, go to weirdst. I'm J.F. Martell.
0:52.3	This week, we discussed Susanna Clark's latest novel, Pyreneasy, which came out in
0:57.1	September 2020. Clark's first novel, of course, was the 2004 bestseller Jonathan Strange and Mr. Narl.
1:04.2	I confess that I haven't read that one, but Phil has. It's one of his favorite novels of all time.
1:09.9	And having read Pyrenees, I'm not surprised.
1:12.4	Clark is a true fantasist, a conjurer of wonders that are themselves initiations into the art of wonder.
1:19.3	Pyrenees is set in another world, a seemingly infinite suite of galleries, each one line with
1:24.6	enigmatic statues, which, like all statuary, speak to us all the more clearly for being silent.
1:31.1	The eponymous character is one of two people inhabiting those strange vast halls.
1:35.9	Without knowing where he or the great palace he inhabits comes from,
1:39.8	he has set himself the task of cataloging its contents and celebrating its mysteries.
1:45.2	The novel takes a turn, however, and soon becomes something of a thriller.
1:49.5	But above all, Pyrenees is a journey into the mysteries of magic and memory,
1:54.3	architecture and architectonics, and the strange fact of living in a world whose creator is
1:59.5	everywhere absent and everywhere present.
2:02.7	It became, for us, a pathway to new places.
2:07.3	Speaking of created worlds, we're delighted to announce that our next episode will be a discussion
2:12.1	with documentary filmmaker Rodney Asher, whose latest film, A Glitch in the Matrix,
2:17.1	debuted at Sundance last week and is being
2:19.1	released on February 5th, 2021. That's just two days from the time I'm recording this. Some of you will
	...

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