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Elizabeth Sandifer

Elizabeth Sandifer created Eruditorum Press. She’s not really sure why she did that, and she apologizes for the inconvenience. She currently writes Last War in Albion, a history of the magical war between Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. She used to write TARDIS Eruditorum, a history of Britain told through the lens of a ropey sci-fi series. She also wrote Neoreaction a Basilisk, writes comics these days, and has ADHD so will probably just randomly write some other shit sooner or later. Support Elizabeth on Patreon.

3 Comments

  1. mr_mond
    May 23, 2017 @ 9:32 am

    “within the context of Hannibal it is the ultimate devil’s offer – a way to control the gap between author and audience, dictating the terms on which your art shall be interpreted.”

    As Joe Hill wrote in “Horns”, “the Devil is first a literary critic”. What’s interesting is that here the critic conspires with the author terrified of what their creation reveals about themselves in order to obscure the true meaning of the work. One wouldn’t think Hannibal would go along with that, seeing how he craves acclaim. But if there is any other thing he claims, it’s a sense of control, and this conspiracy gives him that. The obfuscation might also be a test of the audience: who will be clever enough to see through the layers and grasp the truth? Hannibal is nothing if not elitist. (See also: “It’s only cannibalism if we’re equals”).

    “This is constructed so as to leave clear support for the interpretation that Freddie has figured out Hannibal’s game and thus far opted not to tell anyone. This interpretation is, like the “Hannibal is literally the devil” reading, consistently sustained without ever being given primacy. Even if it is not true, however, Freddie is successfully asserting a form of dominance over Hannibal.”

    This, for me, is one of the greatest bits in all of “Hannibal”: that the one person we might be predisposed to dislike at this point (because of their vulgarity and dealing with low, populist forms of creativity) is the one that slips through the net and, in a way, asserts her moral superiority over everyone else. Everyone who eats meat is tainted, she remains pure.

    We can also read Hannibal’s meals as fairy food: eat them and you will be dragged deeper into the wondrous, nightmarish world. You will be changed. Even if other characters manage to eventually get out of the narrative (like Alana and Margot, aided by the series’ cancellation), only Freddie manages to emerge unscathed, unchanged.

    Reply

    • mr_mond
      May 23, 2017 @ 12:27 pm

      “But if there is any other thing he claims” should, of course, read “But if there is any other thing he craves”.

      Reply

  2. bombasticus
    May 23, 2017 @ 9:55 pm

    disease of editing

    Nice!

    Reply

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