About
About fanlistings - A fanlisting is, as the name suggests, a list of fans of a certain person or thing. Fanlistings originated online with a person called Janine and are registered at thefanlistings.org, which maintains a mighty database. There can only be one official fanlisting per topic. Some are wildly popular, even oversubscribed, and some are, well, obscure or esoteric. You've found the second kind. Made with love, mind. I guess it could take off in popularity. Besides being listed here, fans on the list can display code graphics or links on their own webpages to show their allegiance. This listing has been made by a fan of the novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke.
About Childermass - 'The man of business gave a short laugh - laughter which was clearly directed at Mr Honeyfoot, yet Mr Norrell did not reprimand him either by look or word, and Mr Segundus wondered what sort of business it could be that Mr Norrell entrusted to this person. With his long hair as ragged as rain and as black as thunder, he would have looked quite at home upon a windswept moor, or lurking in some pitch-black alleyway, or perhaps in a novel by Mrs Radcliffe.' (p12)
'Someone was standing in the snow alone directly in front of [York] Minster. He was a dark sort of someone, a not-quite-respectable someone who was regarding Mr Segundus and Dr Foxcastle with an air of great interest. His ragged hair hung about his shoulders like a fall of black water; he had a strong, thin face with something twisted in it, like a tree root; and a long, thin nose; and, though his skin was very pale, something made it seem a dark face - perhaps it was the darkness of his eyes, or the proximity of that long, black greasy hair. After a moment this person walked up to the two magicians, gave them a sketchy bow and said... that his name was John Childermass, and that he was Mr Norrell's steward in certain matters (though he did not say what these were).' (p26)
I was rather delighted by Childermass' entrance in the novel. What captivated me about JS&MN from the beginning was the way that Susanna Clarke had perfectly captured the sensibility of a great 19th Century novel while telling a modern fantasy story - it was as if Charles Dickens or Jane Austen had got an inspiration that was meant for Neil Gaiman or Diana Wynne Jones. So when Childermass turned up, I thought 'Oh, excellent, a real Dickensian ambiguous villain! He reminds me a bit of Hugh in Barnaby Rudge only better educated. Also I think perhaps he is the Raven King in disguise. OOOOOOOH I absolutely LOVE this book.' (I come over a bit Eloise when I'm enjoying a good read.)
'Childermass was one of that uncomfortable class of men whose birth is lowly and who are destined all their lives to serve their betters, but whose clever brains and quick abilities make them wish for recognition and rewards far beyond their reach. Sometimes, by some strange combination of happy circumstances, these men find their own path to greatness, but more often the thought of what might have been turns them sour; they become unwilling servants and perform their tasks no better - or worse - than their less able fellows. They become insolent, lose their places and end badly.' (p33)
It was this quote that cemented my fascination with Childermass and how he would turn out. Despite his somewhat unsympathetic manner, I was really rooting for him and forming a private conviction that I might find him rather good-looking if he washed his hair. I won't go into detail about Childermass' fortunes except to say that I was in suspense at all the right moments, utterly satisfied by how they turned out, and have retained a desire to know more of him if Miss Clarke feels like writing it. (It took her ten years to produce this book so I know I may have to wait a while.)
'Childermass knew what games the children on street-corners are playing - games that all other grown-ups have long since forgotten. Childermass knew what old people by firesides are thinking of, though no one has asked them in years. Childermass knew what young men hear in the rattling of the drums and the tooting of the pipes that makes them leave their homes and go to be soldiers - and he knew the half-eggcupful of glory and the barrelful of misery that await them. Childermass could look at a smart attorney in the street and tell you what he had in his coat-tail pockets. And all that Childermass knew made him smile; and some of what he knew made him laugh out loud; and none of what he knew wrung from him so much as ha'pennyworth of pity.' (p39)
Wouldn't you love to have a chat with him? Miss Clarke says 'My favorite character is probably Childermass. He's the one I'd most happily meet at the pub and have a drink with. He was meant to be a villain at the beginning, but I realized that he's more complex than that. I love that he's so subversive and independent &emdash; but he's also (I hope) a man of his period. He begins as a servant and, although he's very bright, he knows he can't expect much more from life, so he sort of makes do with his position.' (source) I was also delighted to read this and discover that the author and I shared a favourite character and that she liked him for all the same reasons that I did.
'Childermass had had several careers before he became Mr Norrell's servant and adviser. His first was as a highly talented child pick-pocket. His mother, Black Joan, had once managed a small pack of dirty, ragged child-thieves that had worked the towns of the East Riding in the late 1770s.' (footnote, p716)
Childermass, you artful dodger, you!
Questions? Comments? Drop me a line from my contact page, I would love to hear what you think or answer questions within reason.
