re-reading piranesi
a pre-reading syllabus for embarking on a piranesi re-read (or first read!)
Susanna Clarke’s, Piranesi, is one of those books where you can feel the references under the surface, weather you understand them or not. Like grasping for the edge of a memory.
While I loved Piranesi I am also fairly sure that I missed almost every reference and allusion in the story. If it wasn’t for an accidental google search, I wouldn’t even have known that the name Piranesi, is a reference to the artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi.1
This set me on a path to trying to find other things I had missed in the story. I began where all good internet rabbit holes do, on the Piranesi Wikipedia- which has a whole section about allusions in the book.2 From here I meandered along various interviews, reviews, tumblr posts, the whole nine.
And here we are now, a no spoilers, pre-reading guide to allusions and references in Piranesi. In order for this syllabus to make any sense I will be alluding to themes, genre, and form, in the novel. These are by no means spoilers, but I do think that this guide is best suited to a re-read, not a first read. Or, if you’re someone who likes to know a little more before going into a book, go ahead!
I got so much out of reading this book essentially in a vacuum, so I’m doubly excited to experience the story in a new way after going through this syllabus myself! I will undoubtedly be documenting my progress here on substack!
This guide is split up into two distinct sections:
the cannon syllabus
Pieces of media that, through research, I have found are referenced or alluded to in Piranesi and direct references by Clarke herself about inspiration for the book.
the adjunct syllabus
Pieces of media that are not explicitly referred to but I believe are within the sphere of referential relevance for this novel.
Within these sections the syllabus is of course split up by type of media.
the cannon syllabus
Giovanni Battista Piranesi - our title reference.
This is the only thing in this section that I have already looked into, and I would recommend the following footnotes sources to get a good aquainted.34
“Clarke has always been fascinated by the 18th-century Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi and his atmospheric etchings of fictional prisons, shadowy vaults with enormous staircases and impossible geometries. “Some ideas go into your mind and become part of the furniture,” she says.”5
Books
Chronicles of Narnia - C.S Lewis
Both Piranesi and Narnia are portal fantasy stories, and Piranesi evidently has many references to the famous series. I never read Narnia as a kid, and have always wanted to pick up the series as an adult- perfect excuse! I will also tack on the movies, not as required reading on this syllabus, but as a suggestion.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
This is Clarke’s debut novel, which allegedly bears some thematic and even symbolic similarities to Piranesi and as well as a reference to Giovanni Battista Piranesi I believe. I have not read these claims in full so as to not spoil the book for myself, but I have seen this sentiment echoed in many places.678 I also think there is always something valuable in reading an authors surrounding work in order to better understand their writing as a whole.
The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories - Susanna Clarke
A continuation of my last point. I like to get an idea of an author’s body of work, and I didn’t even know this existed until I saw it references in a blog post.9 I also believe that this short story collection has a short story written in Neil Gaiman’s world of ‘Wall’ from the novel Stardust, which is also a portal fantasy story!
The Wood at Midwinter - Susanna Clarke
This is also part of Clarke’s oeuvre, and is a short story set in the world of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.
This is a one off comparison made by a reviewer for the Telegraph, but it intrigued me enough to be included here.
“The natural comparison this time around would be to Mervyn Peake’s Castle Gormenghast, except that the House – somehow both Gothic and Baroque – is presented to us neither as a magical part of our world nor as part of another, fantasy world.”10
Gormenghast is often referred to as being part of the fantasy cannon, alongside the likes of Tolkien. The “miles of rambling stone and mortar that form Gormenghast Castle and its kingdom” invoke the House from Piranesi to me, as well as the idea of there being a “doomed lord” and an “emergent hero”.
Short Stories
There are many references to the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges in reviews of Piranesi. There seem to be three that reviewers consistently come back to as being referenced in the novel, listed below.
Jorge Luis Borges
The Aleph , The Library of Babel, The House of Asterion
Borges has been cited as being majorly influential in philosophical literature and in the emergence of magical realism, a subgenre of fantasy.11
“Critics were forced to coin a new word—Borgesian—to capture the magical world invented by the Argentine author.”12
His short stories contend with themes of “dreams, labyrinths, chance, infinity, archives, mirrors, fictional writers and mythology— all relevant ideas which are present in Piranesi.”13 I also believe there is a sense of place and space in his short stories that is mirrored in Piranesi.
Concepts
The Allegory of the Cave - Plato
I have seen this referenced in a few reviews, specifically in the context of Plato’s theories of the world of forms. Seeing as I have not read much Plato, I have trouble articulating this theory, but from my understanding it has to do with the idea of physical and non-physical objects all having their own ‘forms’ and the idea that those ‘forms’ in fact inform space and time.
“It might be that Piranesi is a figure out of Plato’s allegory of the cave, in a third-rate simulacrum of reality he cannot recognise as such. But might he rather have discovered in the House a better world, and a better self, than the one he grudgingly calls real?”14
Comics
This is a one off reference by Clarke, it is a comic book series with varied reception.
“I also remember reading in Alan Moore’s Promethea comics that ‘We’ve all had this dream of wandering in a great house’, and I thought yes, I do have that dream quite often! I was trying to conjure up an environment that is quite startling, but at the same time you think, ‘I’ve almost been here before.’15
Essentially a super-hero comic, Promethea is a mythological god, loosely inspired by Wonder Woman. Her key feature being the way in which the interacted with human reality “via stories, myths, and dreams.”16
“Tonally, Promethea grants us a utopia in which there are no easy answers. The destruction of the world via a Promethea-caused apocalypse is one of the main threats of the series. The world runs on a precarious mythical undercurrent that predicts future times of war and desolation. Convenience, social progress, and crass commercialization all go hand in hand.”17
I wonder how this may tie into the themes or world of Piranesi, but seeing as it is cited as a direct inspiration, I feel that it earns its spot on this list.
Plays
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest - William Shakespeare
“Susanna is part of this beautiful, very strange British literature tradition in which fantasy is one of the keystones and it’s neither privileged nor judged. She is one of those writers who use the tools of fantasy to talk to us about ourselves.” - Neil Gaiman
In reference to Clarke’s literary lineage, Gaiman references A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest in particular. I heavily considered weather this should be a part of the cannon or adjunct syllabus, but I have chosen to leave it here. I don’t believe that there are necessarily any references to these plays, or that Clarke explictly took inspiration from them, more-so that Piranesi is reminiscent of the plays’ dreamlike and fantastical style.
the adjunct syllabus
Plays
I thought a lot about Endgame during my first read of Piranesi, both in the respective pieces of work’s toying with form and structure, but also in major themes. Endgame is one of my favourite plays, and I feel that makes me see it everywhere in everything, but in Piranesi it feels more present than ever. If you do read this as part of your own Piranesi syllabus, pay close attention to the passage of time within the play, the role of nature and the natural world, and the conversations between Hamm and Clov, which reminded me of the conversations between Piranesi and The Other.
Books - Derbyshire
While writing Piranesi, Clarke moved to Derbyshire, and speaks fleetingly in an interview about being drawn to the landscape and how it informed her living and her writing.18 Much of Derbyshire is part of the Peak District National Park, and from my first read of Piranesi, I feel that there is something of a love for landscape in the novel that makes me want to read some books set in Derbyshire. I chose the following two, one of which I have read, and the other will be a new read for me. Neither are necessarily referenced in Piranesi, so these two are the most self indulgent additions to the syllabus, but I digress.
Charlotte Brontë visited North Lees Hall in Derbyshire and soon after began writing Jane Eyre— Thornbridge Hall, home of Mr Rochester was inspired by North Lees Hall, as is much of the landscape in the novel. I chose Jane Eyre in particular not only because of its landscape connections, but also because of the novel’s gothic style. In terms of relation to Piranesi the novel’s narrative and character elements contending with dark secrets, the pursuit of pleasure, and home and belonging remind me intensely of Piranesi.
This is a much more contemporary novel, and has been on my tbr for a while. This is a book set in the Peak District and is heavily rooted in the minutiae of the natural world. The eerie mystery element also struck me as being narratively similar to Piranesi. Very excited to pick this up.
“Reservoir 13 explores the rhythms of the natural world and the repeated human gift for violence, unfolding over thirteen years as the aftershocks of a tragedy refuse to subside.”
and if you’re thinking of reading anything on this syllabus or have thoughts for additions, leave me a comment!!
https://electricliterature.com/piranesi-is-a-portal-fantasy-for-people-who-know-theres-no-way-out/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piranesi_(novel)#cite_note-odonnell-5
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/337725
https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/a-paper-archaeology/
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/12/susanna-clarke-i-was-cut-off-from-the-world-bound-in-one-place-by-illness
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/jcnxb6/on_the_various_connections_between_piranesi_and/
https://flowersinthelibrary.com/2021/09/23/the-many-conjurings-of-piranesi/
https://bibliolater.com/2022/03/30/piranesi/
https://flowersinthelibrary.com/2021/09/23/the-many-conjurings-of-piranesi/
https://web.archive.org/web/20201129101526/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/piranesi-susanna-clark-reviewa-head-spinning-follow-up-jonathan/
Theo L. D'Haen (1995) "Magical Realism and Postmodernism: Decentering Privileged Centers", in: Louis P. Zamora and Wendy B. Faris, Magical Realism: Theory, History and Community. Duhan and London, Duke University Press, pp. 191–208
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/jorge-luis-borges
https://ubu.com/film/borges_portrait.html
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/piranesi-susanna-clark-reviewa-head-spinning-follow-up-jonathan/
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/12/susanna-clarke-i-was-cut-off-from-the-world-bound-in-one-place-by-illness
https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/looking-back-on-the-utopia-of-alan-moores-promethea
https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/looking-back-on-the-utopia-of-alan-moores-promethea
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/12/susanna-clarke-i-was-cut-off-from-the-world-bound-in-one-place-by-illness
That's quite a list! My first read of Piranesi was dominated by the shadow of Jonathan Strange (which I've read probably 8 times), not so much by thematic throughlines but the differences. They are very different kinds of books, with different pleasures afforded and in particular a different depiction and understanding of 'magic.' Perhaps reading Piranesi first will reveal for you continuities and similarities I couldn't see. My first read was also very strongly influenced by what I knew of the circumstances of Clarke's life: a delay of a decade or so after releasing a huge popular fantasy book marked by personal health and life issues culminating in much shorter and stranger book. I need to reread it as well because I worry that context had too much influence on my interpretation.