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Title: Master Snickup's Cloak by Alexander Theroux, Brian Froud ISBN: 0-905895-43-6 Publisher: Chrysalis Books Pub. Date: 31 December, 1979 Format: Hardcover |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: That's Not A Review
Comment: It's a synopsis. And full of spoilers to boot.
I'm glad I read the book years ago, before seeing this, otherwise I'd be disappointed.
Still, this is one of the truly amusing, if dark, fables that I've ever read.
Rating: 5
Summary: Beautiful, charming, haunting. Odd. Not for children.
Comment: "One morning it was...the Middle Ages" begins this dark fable.
Young Snickup and the divinely beautiful Superfecta, two wards of an orphanage in a small village in the Netherlands, seem utterly devoted to one another. When of age, they are betrothed and exchange betrothal gifts...two white doves for Superfecta, a wondrous blue cloak for young Master Snickup. An excellent match. All seems perfect.
Meanwhile, a wealthy burgher, Mijnheer van Cats, continues to look for a wife. Van Cats is a man of many vices and he owns the notorious Black Windmill, but since he is quite rich, the local merchants and guildmasters are more than happy to offer him their daughters. Van Cats is not interested. Unfortunately one evening, van Cats spots Superfecta (whose beauty is without peer) in the guildhall. He sends her a gift of gold...and without hesitation she agrees to marry him.
The heartbroken Master Snickup, now dressed in nothing but the blue betrothal cloak, departs on a long pilgrimage across Europe. He eventually settles on a tiny island in the Black Sea, where he prays and fasts while demons tempt and torment him.
During this time Superfecta has had a son, the son van Cats so badly wanted. Alas this son does little to calm the choleric man, as van Cats beats his wife, verbally abuses her in town, and gets into the habit of locking her up some nights in the Black Windmill. The village itself has grown prosperous, but the tiny little orphanage where Snickup and Superfecta grew up is ignored amidst the greed and eventually falls to ruin, utterly forgotten.
Still on his tiny island of rock, Snickup continues to pray. His once wondrous blue cloak is in tatters now and infested by all sorts of vermin. However, Snickup's soul has grown pure. Having found his release, Snickup dies. Noticing their host has died, the vermin take flight...including a small flea, which heads for the trading port of Kaffa. We are told the year now is 1346.
Back in the village, the half-witted son of van Cats hangs around the town brothel, which once was the town orphanage. Patrons laugh until they cry at the favorite story of its madam: she once the town beauty. Unbelievable! Not this hideous woman! Partially due to this, the brothel does very well and the town continues to prosper. Trading ships come from far and near, laden with goods and gold.
Soon, strange things start to happen. The air starts to smell bad. Food rots quickly. People and animals start dying in droves. God starts ignoring the prayers of the pious and sinful alike. The sailors from the merchant ships tell horrifying tales of the death and disease that seems to be everywhere. No amount of prayer seems to help. Hell has arrived.
Mijnheer van Cats, unable to cope with events, ends his life in the Black Windmill. The brothel's madam, despite all her efforts, contracts the disease as well. Nothing could end the Black Plague...it took its casualties, moved on, and took its casualties.
This book was a gift to me many, many years ago. Although it horrified me at the time, it has remained one of my very favorite books. Brian Froud's artwork is simply breathtaking (although macabre)! His work is exquisitely, minutely detailed. Even after all these years, I take this book out and find new details in the artwork. Alexander Theroux's prose is haunting; beautiful and charming at the beginning of the tale, dark and terrifying by the end.
The physical effects of the Black Plague are graphically detailed in this book, as are the bizarre efforts taken by the townspeople to thwart the disease. The art in beginning is cute and elfin; the art the end is the stuff of nightmares.
Very highly recommended, but definitely, absolutely not for children.
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