I hesitate to speculate, too, but there is a certain sense in which this book might be read almost as an allegory for that “true” Romanticism which longed for a return to the medieval ages/the Age of Faith, and yet was not afraid to recognize that this involved an embracing of a certain danger that ensues whenever one messes with “more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in our philosophies.” Of course, the fact is probably that those dangers, as Mr. Norrell learns, cannot be avoided anyway, no matter how much we seek to Bowdlerize and contain them. Magic will out.

I also took the liberty of adding this book to the “Drop the Needle” list. I have on several occasions stopped to revisit a particularly wonderful scene, then found myself unable to quit reading until I have once more finished the book.