Short Fiction · Chapter
I: The Rumour of the Marvellous explained
The narrator reflects on how strange and marvellous events are often buried in obscure newspaper paragraphs, citing the transfiguration of the Tashai Lama and poltergeist disturbances as examples.
What happens
The narrator reflects on how strange and marvellous events are often buried in obscure newspaper paragraphs, citing the transfiguration of the Tashai Lama and poltergeist disturbances as examples. He then focuses on a peculiar newspaper clipping about Llantrisant, a town in Arfonshire, which mentions 'remarkable occurrences' and 'lights' during a recent Revival. The narrator is drawn to this because of a prior visit to Llantrisant that left him with an odd feeling. He discusses his 'doctrine of the jigsaw puzzle'—that isolated oddities may fit together into a larger design. He then receives a letter from a friend reporting that the local church has taken to using incense, which contradicts the known Evangelical leanings of the old parson. Intrigued, the narrator decides to go to Arfon to investigate.
Themes in this chapter
The Urban Mystery
The narrator's investigation into the strange newspaper paragraph about Llantrisant and the 'remarkable occurrences' embodies the theme of uncovering hidden mysteries in seemingly ordinary places.
Supernatural and the Divine
The chapter discusses the transfiguration of the Tashai Lama, poltergeist phenomena, and the miraculous healing of Olwen Phillips, all touching on the supernatural and divine.
The Power of Storytelling and Art
The narrator reflects on how marvellous events are reported and then forgotten, and he proposes the 'doctrine of the jigsaw puzzle' as a method for piecing together disparate stories to reveal a larger design.
Characters to notice
- Olwen Phillips
Mentioned as a case of miraculous healing from tuberculosis at Croeswen, Llantrisant, described as a 'kind of resurrection of the body' by reputable surgeons.
Key passages
“His Holiness the Tashai Lama then ascended the Mountain and was transfigured. — Reuter”
The Tashai Lama climbed a holy mountain and was transformed, according to a Reuter report.
This quote illustrates the narrator's point about how extraordinary events are briefly reported and then forgotten without explanation.
“I hold what I call the doctrine of the jigsaw puzzle. That is: this remarkable occurrence, and that, and the other may be, and usually are, of no significance. ... it is when you get your set of odd shapes and find that they fit into one another, and at last that they are but parts of a large design; it is then that research grows interesting and indeed amazing”
The narrator believes that isolated strange events may seem meaningless, but when connected, they reveal a larger, coherent pattern that makes investigation worthwhile.
This passage introduces the narrator's methodological approach to understanding the marvellous.