Although the motif of the meeting with the devil at the crossroads is not present in Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Prince of Mist, the impact (pardon the pun) of making a pact with the devil is a major theme of this young adult novel. Also present in all its disturbing "glory" is the motif of the clown statue.
"The day Jacob Fleischman drowned I knew that the Prince of Mist had never left. He had remained in the shadows, waiting patiently for something powerful to return him to the world of the living. And nothing is as powerful as a promise..." (122)
From Bill Sheehan's review in Subterranean Press:
"On its most fundamental level, Zafon's novel is a lively, thoroughly modern retelling of one of the essential narratives of Western Civilization: The Faustian Compact, which can be summed up in a single sentence: Take what you want--and pay for it." (http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/summer-2010/review-the-prince-of-mist-by-carlos-ruiz-zafon/)
For more information on the book and its author: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/features/princeofmist/index.html
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I have read Carlos Ruiz Zafon in spanish. He began writing his first books for children many years ago. I didn't imagine he was known in Canada.
ReplyDeleteRegards from Spain.