Salon has a joint interview with Neil Gaiman, author of Sandman, American Gods, and half of Good Omens, and Susanna Clarke, author of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, the book which is calling to me from the bookshelf the moment I have the free time to read it (and a crane to lift it). Together, they muse about the thinness of the British faerie-story tradition, and the idea of fantasy as a genre.
While I'm on Gaiman, one of the reasons I'm so quiet this weekend is that I'm finishing watching the entire first season of Carnivale. I missed this when it was first on, and was dubious anyway - for a long time I looked at American fantasy (meaning "fantasy about America", not "fantasy by Americans") and thought there wasn't much interesting there. And then I read American Gods - which while mostly being about immigrants to America, is also at the same time indigenous. Carnivale fits well with that, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of the story pans out (and to borrowing the next season...)
Strange and Norrell is actually better than Gaiman's work (in my opinion anyway)- but probably could have done with a bit more of an edit.
ReplyDeleteCarnivale strikes me as a noir fantasy. As someone who's familiar with the political undercurrents of the period, Brother Justin is eerily reminiscent of US fascists, especially anti-Semitic right-wing
ReplyDeletepopulist radio priest Father Coughlin.
Meanwhile, there are about four episodes left of the second series. I strongly recommend it, given its ironic commentary about the present day United States as well.
Craig Y