A book of Susanna Clarke's short stories is being released this October. It sounds like they will be in the same vein as JS&MN in general and will be about magic, Faerie, etc. Strange and Uskglass even make appearances, apparently!
Prim, I also look forward to reading your thoughts.
Voronwë, wow! I'd love to do the same this summer. How did it hold up to a second reading? I hope you're feeling well, by the way, and that recovery isn't too arduous.
****SPOILERS**** Till end of post.
still think that Stephen Black is some kind of alter ego of the Raven King's. There are just too many references to them by the same name (e.g., the Black King, the Nameless Slave, etc.) And the words of the prophecy to seem to refer to both of them alternatively (I don't have the book in front of me, so I can't quote exactly). I recognize that they are two separate men, but it seems clear to me that Stephen is somehow a reflection of or extension of John Uskglass.
He was some sort of alter ego, but maybe that was all part of the spell. Vinculus only mentions Strange and Norrell as being part of the Raven King's spell, but I think that all of the major plot points were part of John Uskglass's spell. Although the Gentleman was also a king in Faerie, he wasn't stronger than Uskglass, but maybe Uskglass needed to get rid of him for some reason but was unable to do it himself. Thus, he could have engineered it all: Stephen's namelessness, being caught by the Gentleman, etc, so that when the day came that JS and MN cast their ultimate spell to find Uskglass, his powers would transferred to Stephen and the rest would follow. That's probably a bit far fetched and if it isn't it's probably glaringly obvious. The prophecy was written by Uskglass, after all. He just needed some way to bring it about. Where am I going with this? I don't know.
(It just started thundering outside! And there's lightning outside the window! Completely unrelated but very exciting.)
Stephen Black and John Uskglass certainly are an interesting pair to look at. They are so very alike. Maybe Stephen is some sort of placeholder? He is like the the Raven King, the nameless slave, etc. Even his name - Black, like a raven. He is also described as being very kingly. The trees and sky and rocks confuse him for Uskglass, maybe providing a portal or gap for the Raven King to enter and return to his proper place.
I noticed quite a few parallels with Tolkien as I was reading, but of course I can't remember them know. Didn't she paraphrase the Ring verse at one point?