The Solitudes, p. 295-368
I had a book I loved so much that I actually stole it from the middle school library. It was called Mysterious Britain (Frater Hyperion told me he remembered it, too) and through it I already knew about the ley-lines and earthworks, Glastonbury and its zodiac, so marvelously described here. It is a pleasure to see it through Dee's eyes. Also a pleasure is the loving description of old fashioned office supplies Pierce peruses (speaking of the Ransom Center, there is a record volume of the sort described, in a hand as antique as Smoky Barnable's, among the author's papers there.)
I find myself riffing interiorly on the throwaway title of a Kraft historical novel we never visit, The Book of a Hundred Chapters, which had scared the young Pierce. I imagine it as one of those fractal stories of forking paths, like The Manuscript Found in Saragossa, that hint dizzyingly at the endlessness of the Story. Like this one! On page 320, the first representation of the glyph of the Monad, which will be the sign of the Invisible College throughout (for the e-book, it was the cover image.) Annoying Ex-Boyfriend, mentioned in a previous post, got it as a tattoo.
The description of a magician going through books was such a personally familiar one it made me grin to read it. Pierce begins composing the Author's Note that appears at the beginning (now with a note on the new edition heading it up and rather lessening its metafictional impact, IMO.) Just now I looked up the ceiling painting of angels that Kraft thought should be the cover for the books--too bad this set was not brought out with them!
The organization of the book into the houses is conceived after a conversation Pierce has with Val the astrologer. Pierce and Rosie collide like Fate's croquet balls at the tournament, Pierce still hilariously ignorant of the mistaken identities, so the reader can only laugh and squirm helplessly as he tells himself that at least's she not Spofford's girl when he considers his chances of laying her.
An exciting bit of occult book porn in Kraft's house; I think this might be the first place I'd ever seen mention of the PICATRIX. Pierce reading of Bruno's acquisition of the ars memoria learns that Bruno found room to expand his memory palace using the decans found within it, then goes back to the case to hold the book in his hands, talismanic.
I find myself riffing interiorly on the throwaway title of a Kraft historical novel we never visit, The Book of a Hundred Chapters, which had scared the young Pierce. I imagine it as one of those fractal stories of forking paths, like The Manuscript Found in Saragossa, that hint dizzyingly at the endlessness of the Story. Like this one! On page 320, the first representation of the glyph of the Monad, which will be the sign of the Invisible College throughout (for the e-book, it was the cover image.) Annoying Ex-Boyfriend, mentioned in a previous post, got it as a tattoo.
The description of a magician going through books was such a personally familiar one it made me grin to read it. Pierce begins composing the Author's Note that appears at the beginning (now with a note on the new edition heading it up and rather lessening its metafictional impact, IMO.) Just now I looked up the ceiling painting of angels that Kraft thought should be the cover for the books--too bad this set was not brought out with them!
The organization of the book into the houses is conceived after a conversation Pierce has with Val the astrologer. Pierce and Rosie collide like Fate's croquet balls at the tournament, Pierce still hilariously ignorant of the mistaken identities, so the reader can only laugh and squirm helplessly as he tells himself that at least's she not Spofford's girl when he considers his chances of laying her.
An exciting bit of occult book porn in Kraft's house; I think this might be the first place I'd ever seen mention of the PICATRIX. Pierce reading of Bruno's acquisition of the ars memoria learns that Bruno found room to expand his memory palace using the decans found within it, then goes back to the case to hold the book in his hands, talismanic.