- The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.
To quote the publisher’s description:
Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has.
In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.
Messages begin to appear, scratched out in chalk on the pavements. There is someone new in the House. But who are they and what do they want? Are they a friend or do they bring destruction and madness as the Other claims?
Lost texts must be found; secrets must be uncovered. The world that Piranesi thought he knew is becoming strange and dangerous.
Piranesi is a novel by Susanna Clarke, author of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.
Being a capital-O Ontological Mystery as well as rather short, it’s better to approach this novel with as little knowledge as possible. Beware unmarked spoilers.
Contains examples of:
- Affably Evil: Arne-Sayles is either this or Faux Affably Evil. He bears Piranesi no actual malice (seemingly viewing him with a detached sense of amused sociopathic indifference) but has done everything the Other is currently doing to Piranesi to others and probably worse in the past.
- The Aloner: Piranesi is all alone in The House, except for the Other’s bi-weekly visits. The prospect of living like this permanently when he knows there are other people out there is what ultimately convinces him to leave.
- Alternative Calendar: Piranesi creates his own, based on notable events in The House. The book takes place during The Year the Albatross Came to the South-Western Halls.
- Ambiguous Situation: The Other believes that some sort of magical power exists in the House but Piranesi gradually starts to doubt this. Whether or not he's right is never revealed.
- Amnesiac Hero: Piranesi doesn’t remember anything except living in the House. He’s pretty sure Piranesi isn’t his actual name, but can’t recall what it is. The Other also comments about him losing time and forgetting things.
- Amnesiacs are Innocent: Piranesi’s childlike innocence is very much tied to his amnesia. Invoked by Arne-Sayles, who calls his previous identity as Sorensen an “arrogant little shit” but finds Piranesi charming. Once Piranesi discovers what Ketterly has done to him, he enters a bitter rage which is shocking after his previous serene narration.
- Apocalyptic Log: The novel is, in a way, a log of Piranesi's life. Things don't turn out apocalyptically for him in the end, though. Moreover, in the course of the story, he discovers older journal material, which leads up to a personal disaster for the writer.
- Bad Liar: The Other. To the reader it is obvious when he is attempting to mislead Piranesi, but the latter is too trusting to notice.
- Big Bad: The Other (real name Valentine Andrew Ketterley), who imprisoned Piranesi in the House. Raphael suspects he may have attempted to imprison other potential victims too.
- Big Good: 16 aka Raphael, a heroic police officer who comes to the House to rescue Sorenson, and wishes she could bring justice for the dead in the House.
- Big Labyrinthine Building: The "House" where Piranesi lives is a surreal, endless series of chambers, each one containing a wild variety of flawlessly sculpted marble statues of humans, animals and mythological figures. The lower levels are flooded and periodically send tides surging up through the higher levels. The uppermost levels are filled with clouds. Piranesi has lived there for years and has only explored a tiny fraction of it, and the building may actually be infinite.
- Bittersweet Ending: The man who was Piranesi returns to the normal world and builds a new identity, although he never regains his memories and identity as Sorensen. He meets Sorensen's family and friends who are overjoyed to have him back. He has formed a close friendship with Raphael, and they both visit the House (fulfilling his dreams of touring it with 16), though the man who was Piranesi is unsure whether Raphael will find the peace she seeks in the House or if she'll be able to resist being lost in it. The man who was Piranesi visits James Ritter and helps him visit the House, and considers returning there permanently with him. Arne-Sayles pretty much gets away with his crimes and Ketterley dies. In the final chapter though the narrator finds two sources of serenity and joy: in winter snow London can resemble the House, and the statues of the House can be glorious reflections of living people.
- Broken Ace: Raphael is a respected, heroic and intelligent police officer. However she appears to be disillusioned with the real world and finds it difficult to both relate with and like other people, and is drawn to the House (perhaps too much) for its solitude and lack of corruption by others.
- Capital Letters Are Magic: Played with. Piranesi uses capital letters very liberally, but it’s unclear if he actually knows how or if he’s just throwing them around. It could be a reflection of his animistic interpretation of and relationship to the House — everything is alive, everything is significant, so everything is named. After he comes back to the real world, his narration no longer features so many of them.
- Character Title: A subversion. The Other refers to the narrator as Piranesi, yet the narrator is sure that's not his real name.
- Clothing Damage: Time and corrosion have taken their toll on Piranesi’s clothing. He repairs what he can, but his general appearance is somewhat disheveled. He also walks barefoot until the Other brings him new shoes.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Piranesi. His definition of Reason is definitely not the standard one.
- Creepy Good: Piranesi is a kind, innocent man, but a lot of his habits and rituals may seem off-putting if not downright creepy (especially anything to do with the dead bodies in the House).
- Cult: Arne-Sayles ran a low-key, rather realistic one in the form of his circle of students. Anyone who disagreed with him would be verbally demolished, and he forced his most devoted and talented student to act as his servant and eventually to cut off her parents, thus destroying her only other close relationship essentially just because he could.
- Depraved Homosexual: Laurence Arne-Sayles, and proud of it.
- Dramatic Irony: Real-world names and dates, such as "Battersea" or the way Piranesi's earliest journals are marked 2011-2012, are an obvious clue to the reader that the real world does exist somewhere, but Piranesi has no idea what they mean and thinks they're nonsense. Likewise, it will be clear to the reader much earlier than it's clear to Piranesi that the Other is not trustworthy or a friend.
- Due to the Dead: Piranesi brings ritual offerings to the dead of the house and tries to reassure them in times of trouble. He does the same for Ketterley, even after everything. Tending to them is one of the reasons Piranesi considers staying in the House.
- Eldritch Location:
- The House is a relatively benevolent version. It’s a seemingly infinite labyrinth of halls and statues which has an internal ocean and its own climate, and prolonged stays produce confusion, distress and eventually amnesia (with memories being replaced with knowledge of The House itself). However, it’s not evil in any way, and holds great beauty and wisdom for those open to see them.
- The statues in particular are a mystery, with no obvious sculptor. Piranesi says when talking to the Prophet that they may be shaped by thoughts that flow out of the real world alongside magic, which the Prophet says may well be true. Later Piranesi discovers that at least two statues have their faces modelled on real people.
- Enlightenment Superpowers: What the Other is looking for, although he may be missing something fundamental about how it works. The ability to come into the House at will also works like that. Piranesi develops the ability to correctly interpret omens and signs that the House gives him as his memories of the Other World are replaced with his knowledge of the House.
- Epiphanic Prison: Piranesi is imprisoned in the House and doesn't realize it. To escape, he must remember who he is and why he's there.
- Evil Old Folks: The Prophet, AKA Laurence Arne-Sayles.
- Exact Words: Piranesi is extremely precise and literal-minded, which sometimes causes him problems when trying to interpret Ketterley's instructions. Examples include not telling Ketterley about meeting Arne-Sayles (because Ketterley's instructions relate only to future meetings, not previous ones), and Piranesi not knowing how to react to a written message from 16 (because Ketterley only told him not to "speak" with her).
- First-Person Perspective: The story is told by Piranesi. Given his situation, this doesn't lead to the reader learning too much...
- Gaslighting: The Other tells Piranesi that he forgets things, loses time, and might become unstable as a way to manipulate him and keep him obedient, as well as to make sure he doesn't talk to Raphael/16.
- Gainax Ending: Downplayed. The ending is mostly clear cut, but on the last two pages the narrator realizes some of the statues match real people he sees in the city. The story ends right after this revelation so what it means isn't explained in any way.
- Genius Loci: Piranesi believes the House is sentient, that it loves him and cares for him and periodically sends him revelations of hidden truths and the future. We never find out if he's right or if this is a symptom of his insanity.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Laurence Arne-Sayles aka the Prophet, a sociopathic cult leader who taught Ketterley all he knew, and almost certainly murdered at least one of the bodies Piranesi tends to. Interestingly, while he's almost certainly a worse person than Ketterly he is not at all hostile to Piranesi, and in fact he gives Raphael the information needed to rescue Piranesi from the House.
- Have You Told Anyone Else?: Ketterley asks Sorensen whether he told anyone else about coming to Ketterley’s house. Sorensen, in a sudden lapse of common sense, says no.
- Hero of Another Story: The story could easily have been told from Sarah Raphael’s POV as a straight-up supernatural mystery instead of an Ontological Mystery.
- Identity Amnesia: "Piranesi" isn't the protagonist's name, but it's what his friend (and the only other person in the world) calls him. He doesn't know his actual name because living in the House erodes your memory and sanity.
- In Harmony with Nature: Piranesi lives in harmony with the ecological system of The House, subsisting on fish and seaweed and giving back where he can. At one point he helps a couple of albatrosses build a nest.
- It's All About Me: The attitude of Arne-Sayles and Ketterley, to various degrees.
- Jerkass: Two instances:
- The Other, despite being Piranesi's only "friend", which is an early clue that Piranesi's view of the world is misguided.
- Also the Prophet/Arne-Sayles, who is almost certainly a worse person than the Other.
- Karma Houdini: Arne-Sayles was in prison for a few years, but he seemed to quite enjoy it. The real extent of his crimes can’t be proven and he gets to live the rest of his life comfortably.
- Madwoman in the Attic: James Ritter got this treatment from Arne-Sayles for about two years, after losing his mind in the House.
- The Magic Goes Away: What Arne-Sayles believes is happening since humankind developed a rational mode of thinking. His search for other worlds is partially motivated by trying to find where the magic goes.
- Love at First Sight: Piranesi falls in love with 16 just from seeing her at night and realizing she is a woman. To be fair, she is the only woman in his world at that point.
- The Nameless: The narrator is called Piranesi by the Other, but he suspects that's not his real name. He calls himself a Child of the House. After regaining his memories the narrator still doesn't reclaim the identity of Sorenson, and remembers Piranesi as a different person, creating a third nameless personality.
- Ontological Mystery: What is the House and how did Piranesi come to be there? This might be a Quest for Identity, except that Piranesi doesn't seem too worried about his own identity at least until he discovers what it is.
- Platonic Cave: Played With. A common interpretation of the House is that it is this. Piranesi is aware of concepts like “University” because he has seen statues of related things, but he is unaware of the true reality of them in the outside world. However, it is Played With in that the House is a mixture of the concepts of the Platonic Cave AND the Platonic Ideal; the Statues in the House might not be the real thing, but they are the idealized, beautiful, and eternal versions of the real things. The house may “just” be a reflection of the real world, but as Piranesi says, it has its own inherent value.
- Oracular Head: Addedomarus in the backstory.
- Samus Is a Girl: 16. The Other deliberately hid this to prevent Piranesi's romantic streak making him partial to 16.
- Save the Villain: Piranesi tries to warn the Other to run, but he's too busy trying to kill Raphael to listen.
- Shout-Out:
- There are numerous shout-outs to The Chronicles of Narnia, notably including the faun statue which makes Piranesi dream about a faun talking to a little girl in a snowy forest. The book also opens in a quote from “The Magician’s Nephew”, and the Other's real family name, Ketterley, is the same as the eponymous magician's, whom he greatly resembles.. The narration even refers to them as “a very old Dorsetshire family”, which is a direct quote from The Magician’s Nephew. Eventually the plot is revealed to have a similar premise to the exploitation of Digory Kirke in the beginning of The Magician’s Nephew.
- The protagonist shares a name with Giovanni Battista Piranesi
, an 18th-century Italian artist who created etchings of fantastic, labyrinthine prisons. This is also an in-universe shout-out. - The basic premise resembles "The House of Asterion" by Jorge Luis Borges (down to the fact that as far as Piranesi knows, there are or were 14 other people in the world besides him).
Word of God says this was not deliberate, though. - One of the characters wrote an article called "Timey-Wimey: Steven Moffat, Blink and J. W. Dunne's theories of Time".
- Small, Secluded World: The House. It’s a sort of Pocket Dimension created by magic flowing out of our world.
- That Man Is Dead: After coming back to the real world, the narrator still doesn’t see himself as Matthew Rose Sorensen, although he no longer quite identifies with the Piranesi persona either. Slightly subverted in that he doesn’t think Sorensen is dead, only “sleeping”.
- Unreliable Narrator: Piranesi is established as one from the start, as he claims that the House is the entire world, with only 16 people existing in it. However he is able to recognise depictions of gorillas, kings, fauns etc. among the House's statues, when those things clearly do not exist within the House.
- You Are Number 6: 16, so named since to the best of Piranesi’s knowledge, they are the sixteenth person that exists in the world.
