#scenography

Canoptek circle - Tomb Crawler

+ more tombworld walls

Le calme avant

Hi, it’s me again— the cultural history, art and literature nerd. I have seen more fun and clever stuff.

There are interesting books strewn all over the sets all the time, but I like this one in particular — The Savage Garden — not only because of the obvious, recurring references made to the concept in the show, but because it’s also very relevant to Daniel and Armand.

The book is about an art history student who goes to Italy to study a renaissance garden — which’s nine tiers correspond to the nine circles of hell in Dante’s The Divine Comedy — owned by an old aristocratic family. While he wanders round the garden, full of statues placed there to tell stories of love and grief (and other, less obvious, things) he uncovers secrets and clues that lead to the solving of one murder that was committed sometime shortly after WWII, and one that happened sometime during the renaissance.

So it’s basically full of parallels to Armand’s past in renaissance Venice, his religious journeys and relationship with god and the devil (which are, admittedly, more prominent in the books, but still absolutely there in the show), and references that feel very Marius.

And then there’s the parallels to Daniel, the man who travels to ask relatively straightforward questions but instead ends up solving murders committed in post WWII Paris. He also gets physical with the renaissance affiliated character, just like the protagonist in the book.

I now, once again, feel like I need to rewatch both seasons frame by frame.