Piranesi

By Sussana Clarke

We follow the young journalist, Matthew Rose Sorenson, styled Piranesi, who resides in a mysterious maze of marble vestibules filled with statues. This seemingly unending structure appears to be suspended over the sea.

The book starts off as a philosophical exploration into an alternative reality. Pleasantly mind-stretching, we are privy to the humble life of Piranesi. We find him to be a resourceful man, who teaches himself to fish, collect fresh water and craft clothes. We find him to be scientific in nature, cataloguing and documenting every vestibule and statue in a very systematic manner. We also find him very kind, as shown by his help in building the Albatross’ nest.

Some interesting anthropological questions are raised in Piranesi’s world. For example, despite his rigorous scientific nature, he develops a sense of spiritualism. This can be observed from some of the imagery he uses to describe the environment, such as the cross to describe the gliding albatross; his reverence for the dead, where he offers up scarce food and collects their bones; he sees the statues as embodiments of the ideals that he wants, for example, he sits by the gorilla statue when he needs strength.

Piranesi is cognisant that the House provides the means to address every need. The underground provides him with seawood for sustenance and weeds for fires; the top section provides him with fresh rainwater; the middle section provides him with a safe place to berth. Perhaps spirituality is mandatory when one relies on the elements for their survival.

We will leave this question unsatisfactorily unanswered.

The book then takes a thrilling turn into the occult. We discover that Piranesi’s world is an alternative reality, a purgatory for lost ideas from the Earth. A world that Matthew and his (dead) predecessors had become trapped in. The evil genius behind this are Dr Laurence Arne Sayles and Dr Kettering.

Sayles believed that logical scientific thinking had disregarded the ancient reverence for nature. That there existed alternative realities that could be tapped into. However, instead of sharing his methods and making his discoveries reproducible, as any scientist who had made such a grand breakthrough would do. Sayles instead kept it secretive and within the confines of the cult that he shrouded himself with. It could even be argued that he used ‘The Statue World’ as his own personal dungeon. Just like lost ideas from the world were disregarded here, so were individuals that Sayles no longer needed.

However, when these antagonists are finally vanquished, ‘The Statue World’ returns to being the serene, peaceful and sincere life that we were first introduced to. So when Piranesi is finally rescued, we are left asking ourselves, was bringing him back to the ‘real’ world really the kindest option?