I’ll spoiler-box the question in case someone who hasn’t read the book wanders by, and I’ll include some space to avoid an “accidental mouse-over” spoiler.
Okay. I’ve just finished Susanna Clarke’s book Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. In the book, the Raven King’s prophecy (as related by Vinculus) about Mr. Norrell said in part “The first shall bury his heart in a dark wood beneath the snow, yet still feel its ache.” This line is also the title of Chapter 63 in which
Lascelles forces Childermass to leave, Norrell has difficulty finding his library because Strange changes Norrell’s labyrinth, and, at the end of the chapter, Norrell finds himself in the library, in the Darkness with Strange.
ISTM that Mr. Norrell’s heart must be
the library
but he and Strange end up there, and apparently will stay there. Strange later says “That is one of the advantages to our particular mode of travel. [Norrell] need never leave the house if he does not wish it. The world – all worlds – will come to us.” So if I’m right about his “heart,” I’m not getting the “buried in a dark wood beneath the snow, yet still feel its ache” part of it. And if I’m wrong about his heart . . . then what is his heart?
I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts as to what this part of the prophecy meant. Thanks!