I finally read Stopp't-Clock Yard by Susanna Clarke

[pretty_plant]

I kept putting off reading this story because I wanted to at least read an issue of The Sandman before reading this. However, because I also kept putting off The Sandman, I ended reading neither. However, yesterday, I finally got around to reading it. The story started off pretty well with a very clear Clarke's feel but I was very surprised when Dream showed up because of how John Uskglass was so similar to him. I don't know how Dream is in the comics because I have not read it yet but Dream in Stopp't-Clock Yard feels weirdly similar to John Uskglass. I wonder whether Susanna Clarke was influenced by Neil Gaiman (consciously or not) or Clarke put her personal touch on Dream and make him very Uskglassian (or is it just me looking at a Clarke's writing while being obsessed with her other work?). However, a lot of the scenes and images have a distinctly Clarke's feels, not Gaiman's feels.

Dream and Uskglass are definitely both pale handsome men with dark hair, dressed in black although Dream was described to be tall while Uskglass was slighter (at least shorter than Strange). They both are associated with ravens. Interestingly, Paramore in Stopp't-Clock Yard actually called himself and Trismegistus English magicians. This gave me a distinct JSMN vibe and Susanna Clarke was definitely in the middle of writing JSMN while she was writing this short story. Maybe the writing of JSMN was influencing her in the writing of this short story. In a later part, when the pearls of a Duchess were dropped into the field, Dream made the pigs eat them and the pigs were later killed and turned into blood pudding then the pudding was served to the Duchess's table. This felt very Clarke-ish in its humour, wonder and charm. Then there was a part in which Dream complained to the King of England about "the bad behavior of some Eglishmen who had lately journeyed through his realm" (Stopp't-Clock Yard). It definitely reminded me of that prophecy in which Uskglass complained about how Englishmen did not appreciate his gifts of magic.

There are some differences. Dream, in this short story, did not know everything and only realized something was wrong until somebody told him while John Uskglass was pretty much manipulating and controlling the entire events of JSMN (I don't include the short story Charcoal Burner because its accuracy in the world of JSMN is debatable).

I will probably try to read The Sandman later to see how Dream was written by Neil Gaiman instead of Susanna Clarke.

Comments

[regshoe]

Ooh, fascinating stuff! I haven't read Stopp'd-Clock Yard (I assumed it wouldn't make sense without knowing anything about Sandman, which I don't), but if there's a proto-John Uskglass character then perhaps I'll have to give it a try.

[ohveda]

I'm jumping in to persuade you to read it!

I haven't read "The Sandman" either, but I definitely enjoyed "Stoppt-Clock Yard" (it worked well as a standalone story for me). It's been a good few years since I read it, but I remember finding the atmosphere and the characters to be very JSMN-ish and the writing to be pure Susanna Clarke.

As pretty_plant says, Dream in this story is very Uskglassian, although the two characters aren't entirely identical. I would love to know when Clarke wrote "Stoppt-Clock Yard" and where she was on her JSMN journey at that point.

[regshoe]

I'm sure completing my reading of her published fiction so far will make a good warm-up for Piranesi next year :D

It looks like Stopp'd-Clock Yard was published in 1996, and I think Clarke has said she spent ten years on JSMN, so it must have been fairly early in the process—it'll be an interesting insight into it!

[pretty_plant]

The story is very nice and well-written and I have no trouble understanding anything even though it is based on The Sandman. Dream and Death are characters from The Sandman but Clarke made sure to explain them in the story so it is not hard to understand at all.

We do know from the what Clarke said that the story she sent to Gaiman was The ladies of Grace Adieu so that meant she had to have a good idea of John Uskglass by then (or at least his influences on his subjects) but I definitely like to imagine that either Dream influenced partly the development of John Uskglass or the writing of John Uskglass influenced how Susanna Clarke portrayed Dream. I can only know which one is true once I read The Sandman.

[regshoe]

The Raven King has a lot of literary and mythological antecedents, but it's really interesting to hear how Clarke's portrayal of a character from another story might have influenced the development of her own character!