32 pages • 1 hour read
The Wood at Midwinter
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Background
Authorial Context: Susanna Clarke
Susanna Clarke is a British author, born in Nottingham in 1959. Since 2004—when she published her debut novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell— Clarke has been widely celebrated for her ability to blend fantasy, history, and folklore into richly atmospheric narratives. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell won the Hugo Award for Best Novel and established Clarke as a leading voice in the genre of historical fantasy. Clarke’s work often explores themes of magic, the supernatural, and the interplay between human and mystical realms, all set inside meticulously researched historical timeframes. Through her commitment to crafting convincing magical traditions and richly detailed worlds, Clarke continues to “expand the boundaries” of fantasy literature (“Susanna Clarke.” British Council, 2024).
Clarke studied the undergraduate course PPE (philosophy, politics, and economics) at Oxford before embarking on a career in publishing. This academic and professional training can be traced in Clarke’s fiction. Clarke is particularly interested in the early 19th century; the Georgian English setting of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is carried over into “The Wood at Midwinter.” Though a much shorter work, this tale maintains Clarke’s signature style of blending fantasy and folklore with historical settings. In “The Wood at Midwinter,” Clarke makes explicit personal reflections about her influences, particularly her father’s neurodivergence and her own ecological philosophy. In particular, these influences shape the story’s exploration of interconnectedness and the mystical qualities of nature.
Literary Context: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
“The Wood at Midwinter” is set in the same universe as Susanna Clarke’s debut novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. This long and complex novel establishes a richly detailed world where magic exists within the verisimilitude of 19th-century English history. While “The Wood at Midwinter” is a shorter, more intimate tale, it draws on the broader magical tradition and lore introduced in her earlier work. This enables the novella to rapidly establish its fictional world setting.
In her afterword, Clarke explains the direct connection between these two narratives, inventing a “lost footnote” in Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell:
I am fairly certain that Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell contained at one time a long footnote with a careful explanation of Merowdis’s city—the city that is near the wood, the city where she lives. I had intended to refer you to that footnote, so that you could find out all about it (how it is very beautiful, how it was built in the twelfth century by John Uskglass, the King of the North, and William Lanchester, his chancellor, etc. etc.). But I cannot do that because the footnote has vanished. I imagine that some fairy has removed it for reasons of his or her own. (Fairies are like that.) (60).
This playful reference reinforces Clarke’s literary style, which blurs the line between historical fiction and fantasy while deepening the reader’s sense of an interconnected world. The mention of John Uskglass, a central figure in Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, ties Merowdis’s story to the larger mythos of the Raven King in that novel, a symbol of magical resurgence and the union of human and fairy realms.
By situating “The Wood at Midwinter” within the same literary universe, Clarke invites those readers familiar with her earlier work to engage with its themes of magic and interconnectedness from a fresh, more intimate perspective. The continuation of her established world-building enriches her new fable-like tale, offering a layered narrative that can stand alone but also resonates with her oeuvre.
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