Paithan’s Reviews > On the Marble Cliffs > Status Update

The violent mob can destroy the town and the villages, but not the Narrator’s retreat. Places in this novel are not purely locations but have metaphysical importance. The mob cannot destroy the inward, spiritual retreat of the Narrator, because it is protected by forces totally the Mob.

Entire chapter devoted to the hunting dogs, sleek humters and heavy mastiffs. Next chapter there is something I never noticed before, the tree-line with its mob of hunters is something like a skirmish line. The charge to take it is very reminiscent of trench warfare; avoiding traps, storming barricades, hand to hand fighting.

I remember the first time that I read this book. I was waiting for the moment when the protagonist and his brother would pick up their weapons and go to fight the Huntmaster.

On the second read through, I see that the protagonist is more concerned with metaphysical and spiritual affairs. In the introduction It’s written that metaphysics is a way out of engaging with the physical world. This is Gnosticism.

Rereading for the second time. The Grand Marina is very Edenic. The Marble Cliffs are something of an Ivory Tower. The Narrator and Brother Otho are like priests, in that they are attempting to discern a higher truth from existence through a study of the natural world.