Aloïs Wood is a second year English Literature student. They recently participated in the YSJ Big Summer Read 2025 which focussed on Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi. Clarke was awarded an honorary degree by York St John University in 2024. Described by Adam J Smith as “the tale of the titular Piranesi, who wakes trapped in an unending labyrinth of statues, skeletons and an ocean,” Aloïs concentrates on the novel’s setting and allusions in their review.
This summer, we were all invited to read and discuss Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. It is a thought-provoking journey into a bricolage of abstract concepts within the physical space of “the House” – where Clarke creates a world of ancient statues and columns, a great sea, and only two living inhabitants aside from the flora and fauna. The setting and protagonist of Piranesi is original and focused, with Piranesi himself being such a docile and curious character it is hard not to follow him with affection. As a literature student at YSJ, I found this novel interesting as a work influenced both by C.S. Lewis (the House being modelled on Charn) and Plato’s allegory of the cave. However, I was pulled along chiefly by its exploration of the non-material, or spiritual aspects of human beings, and how this innate core to us interacts with the cognitive construct of language and literature.
The House represents the ancient landscape of the soul, for it does not communicate verbally, but through our innate senses: in visual art of statues and columns; a soundscape of sea and bird calls. However, this novel still welcomes in the reader by integrating literature, for Piranesi must cling to his diary, recording his interpretations of the House throughout the whole of his journey. Piranesi records that “the Ancient Knowledge has encouraged us to think of the House as if it were a sort of riddle to be unravelled, a text to be interpreted […] It is enough in and of Itself” (60). This novel explores what it means to exist and how, especially in a world filled with those who search for meaning everywhere, we might value a stoic acceptance of our environment as it comes. Clarke puts this sentiment so stunningly simply, it feels intrusive to try and overcomplicate this with explanation!
Piranesi is a fantastical novel which demonstrates how living in the world and to study it are both integral aspects of the human experience, for we are in possession of hearts as well as minds. The way we may experience Clarke’s novel is the same, enjoying it as a thrilling story, but also as a didactic manual.