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Author: Carolyne Larrington
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 0500778477
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 346
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Book Description
A fresh look at the stories at the heart of Norse mythology, exploring their cultural impact up to the present day. This brilliantly original and accessible guide explores how Valhalla and its Valkyries have inspired our cultural landscape, from Wagner to the Marvel Universe. Carolyne Larrington’s elegantly written retellings capture the beauty of the original myths, while also delving deeper into the history of their meanings, offering the reader an intelligent and up-to-date take on these powerful stories. A ruggedly handsome blond man swings his huge hammer. Gaunt-faced figures with icicle crowns and frost-rimmed cheekbones march from the north through an endless winter. These strange supernatural figures might sound familiar—and also like creatures of myth and legend. Yet they haven’t stepped straight off the vellum of ancient manuscripts. Rather, these compelling characters are contemporary reimaginings of mythic figures from Old Norse mythology. All speak to our contemporary hopes and fears, bridging the gap between a vanished medieval past and a vibrant, living present. Larrington guides us on an enchanting journey through centuries of heroism, cruelty, and magic, while also exploring how these stories speak to the enduring human condition. This book is for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of Norse mythology and its cultural resonances through the centuries.
Author: Carolyne Larrington
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 0500778477
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 346
Get Book Here
Book Description
A fresh look at the stories at the heart of Norse mythology, exploring their cultural impact up to the present day. This brilliantly original and accessible guide explores how Valhalla and its Valkyries have inspired our cultural landscape, from Wagner to the Marvel Universe. Carolyne Larrington’s elegantly written retellings capture the beauty of the original myths, while also delving deeper into the history of their meanings, offering the reader an intelligent and up-to-date take on these powerful stories. A ruggedly handsome blond man swings his huge hammer. Gaunt-faced figures with icicle crowns and frost-rimmed cheekbones march from the north through an endless winter. These strange supernatural figures might sound familiar—and also like creatures of myth and legend. Yet they haven’t stepped straight off the vellum of ancient manuscripts. Rather, these compelling characters are contemporary reimaginings of mythic figures from Old Norse mythology. All speak to our contemporary hopes and fears, bridging the gap between a vanished medieval past and a vibrant, living present. Larrington guides us on an enchanting journey through centuries of heroism, cruelty, and magic, while also exploring how these stories speak to the enduring human condition. This book is for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of Norse mythology and its cultural resonances through the centuries.
Author: Mark Williams
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 050077255X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 226
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Book Description
A fresh and revealing look at the stories at the heart of Celtic mythology, exploring their cultural impact throughout history up to the present day. The Celtic Myths That Shape the Way We Think explores a fascinating question: how do myths that were deeply embedded in the customs and beliefs of their original culture find themselves retold and reinterpreted across the world, centuries or even millennia later? Focusing on the myths that have had the greatest cultural impact, Mark Williams reveals the lasting influence of Celtic mythology, from medieval literature to the modern fantasy genre. An elegantly written retelling, Williams captures the splendor of the original myths while also delving deeper into the history of their meanings, offering readers an intelligent and engaging take on these powerful stories. Beautiful illustrations of the artworks these myths have inspired over the centuries are presented in a color plates section and in black and white within the text. Ten chapters recount the myths and explore the lasting influence of legendary figures, including King Arthur, the Celtic figure who paradoxically became the archetypal English national hero; the Irish and Scottish hero Finn MacCool, who as “Fingal” caught the imagination of Napoleon Bonaparte, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Felix Mendelssohn; and the Welsh mythical figure Blodeuwedd, magically created from flowers of the oak, who inspired W. B. Yeats. Williams’s mythological expertise and captivating writing style make this volume essential reading for anyone seeking a greater appreciation of the myths that have shaped our artistic and literary canons and continue to inspire today.
Author: Carolyne Larrington
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 0500778469
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 346
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Book Description
The heroes and villains of Norse mythology have endured for centuries, infiltrating art, opera, film, television and books, shape-shifting like the trickster Loki to suit the cultures that encountered them. Through careful analysis of the literature and archaeology of the Norse world, Carolyne Larrington takes us deep into the realm described in the Icelandic sagas, from the gloomy halls of Hel to the dazzling heights of Asgard. She expertly examines the myths many modern-day reimaginings, revealing the guises that have been worn by the figures of Norse myth, including Marvels muscled, golden-haired Thor and George R.R Martins White Walkers, who march inexorably southwards, bringing their eternal winter with them. This sophisticated yet accessible guide explores how these powerful stories have inspired our cultural landscape, from fuelling the creative genius of Wagner to the construction of the Nazis nationalist ideology. Larringtons elegantly written retellings capture the essence of the original myths while also delving into the history of their meanings. The myths continue to speak to such modern concerns as masculinity and environmental disaster after the inevitable, apocalyptic ragna rök, renewal comes from the roots of Yggdrasill, the World Tree.
Author: Richard Buxton
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0500518807
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
A fresh and revealing look at the stories at the heart of Greek mythology, exploring their cultural impact throughout history up to the present day. How do ancient Greek myths find themselves retold and reinterpreted in cultures across the world, several millennia later? In this volume, bestselling author Richard Buxton explores the power that eight iconic Greek myths hold in the modern world. Buxton traces these stories and archetypes from their ancient forms through their transformations over time in literature, art, cinema, psychology, and politics. Over their long lives, Greek myths have expressed a myriad of meanings: from aesthetic refinement to erotic fantasy to political power. Greek myths are an integral part of a broader cultural history, their changes in meaning signifying major shifts in art and society; myths that strike a resonant cultural chord in one period may fall out of fashion the next. This erudite yet accessible exploration examines how the world’s most influential myths have survived to the present, and how they have shaped our ideas on everything from family and society to sexuality and culture. As Buxton explains, each of the eight featured myths is fundamental to the way we think about ourselves and the world. The figure of Prometheus has inspired science fiction icons from Mary Shelley to Ridley Scott. The tragedy of Medea has had a profound impact on theater, feminism, and even criminology. Oedipus’s influence stretches far beyond Freud. The rich visual tradition inspired by Greek myths—from pottery to paintings to popular culture —illustrates this wide-ranging, sometimes surprising study, making this book a beautiful object to own as well as a thought-provoking read.
Author: Hélène Adeline Guerber
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mythology, Norse
Languages : en
Pages : 556
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Book Description
Author: Nancy Marie Brown
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1137073713
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 229
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Book Description
“A wonderfully evocative biography of the . . . 13th century Icelandic writer and chieftain” who wrote the immortal stories of Thor, Odin, Valhalla, and Ragnarök (Guardian, UK). Much like Greek and Roman mythology, Norse myths are still with us. Famous storytellers from JRR Tolkien to Neil Gaiman have drawn their inspiration from the long-haired, mead-drinking, marauding and pillaging Vikings. But few of us know much about the creator of these immortal heroes: a thirteenth-century Icelandic chieftain by the name of Snorri Sturluson. Like Homer, Snorri was a bard, writing down and embellishing the folklore and pagan legends of medieval Scandinavia. Unlike Homer, Snorri was a man of the world—a wily political power player, one of the richest men in Iceland who came close to ruling it, and even closer to betraying it. In Song of the Vikings, award-winning author Nancy Marie Brown brings Snorri Sturluson’s story to life in a richly textured narrative that draws on newly available sources.
Author: Richard Buxton
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 0500776407
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 601
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Book Description
A full, authoritative, and wholly engaging account of these endlessly fascinating tales and of the ancient society in which they were created. Greek myths are among the most complex and influential stories ever told. From the first millennium BC until today, the myths have been repeated in an inexhaustible series of variations and reinterpretations. They can be found in the latest movies and television shows and in software for interactive computer games. This book combines a retelling of Greek myths with a comprehensive account of the world in which they developed—their themes, their relevance to Greek religion and society, and their relationship to the landscape. "Contexts, Sources, Meanings" describes the main literary and artistic sources for Greek myths, and their contexts, such as ritual and theater. "Myths of Origin" includes stories about the beginning of the cosmos, the origins of the gods, the first humans, and the founding of communities. "The Olympians: Power, Honor, Sexuality" examines the activities of all the main divinities. "Heroic exploits" concentrates on the adventures of Perseus, Jason, Herakles, and other heroes. "Family sagas" explores the dramas and catastrophes that befall heroes and heroines. "A Landscape of Myths" sets the stories within the context of the mountains, caves, seas, and rivers of Greece, Crete, Troy, and the Underworld. "Greek Myths after the Greeks" describes the rich tradition of retelling, from the Romans, through the Renaissance, to the twenty-first century. Complemented by lavish illustrations, genealogical tables, box features, and specially commissioned drawings, this will be an essential book for anyone interested in these classic tales and in the world of the ancient Greeks.
Author: Roderick Dale
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429650361
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 208
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Book Description
The viking berserkr is an iconic warrior normally associated with violent fits of temper and the notorious berserksgangr or berserker frenzy. This book challenges the orthodox view that these men went ‘berserk’ in the modern English sense of the word. It examines all the evidence for medieval perceptions of berserkir and builds a model of how the medieval audience would have viewed them. Then, it extrapolates a Viking Age model of berserkir from this model, and supports the analysis with anthropological and archaeological evidence, to create a new and more accurate paradigm of the Viking Age berserkr and his place in society. This shows that berserkir were the champions of lords and kings, members of the social elite, and that much of what is believed about them is based on 17th-century and later scholarship and mythologizing: the medieval audience would have had a very different understanding of the Old Norse berserkr from that which people have now. The book sets out a challenge to rethink and reframe our perceptions of the past in a way that is less influenced by our own modern ideas. The Myths and Realities of the Viking berserkr will appeal to researchers and students alike studying the Viking Age, Medieval History and Old Norse Literature.
Author: Joanne Harris
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0552778982
Category : Fantasy fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 532
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Book Description
Seven oâe(tm)clock on a Monday morning, five hundred years after the End of the World, and goblins had been at the cellar again. Maddy Smith has always been an outsider. In a world ruled by the harsh and puritanical Order, she is shunned for the strange birthmark on her left hand. For this is no ordinary birthmark âe" it is a runemark, a sign of the old gods. In fact, Maddy can do things that no-one else can, things that could be called magic. But not until she meets the old traveller One-Eye, an outsider like herself, does she learn what power she really has, and what she will be asked to do with it. In Runemarks, Joanne Harris creates a world not unlike our own - if it had been shaped by the Vikings instead of the Romans - and colours it with her familiar blend of rich imagery and gritty realism. A disenchanted world, where the gods died long ago. Can Maddy bring them back to life?
Author: David M. Krueger
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 1452945438
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 181
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Book Description
What do our myths say about us? Why do we choose to believe stories that have been disproven? David M. Krueger takes an in-depth look at a legend that held tremendous power in one corner of Minnesota, helping to define both a community’s and a state’s identity for decades. In 1898, a Swedish immigrant farmer claimed to have discovered a large rock with writing carved into its surface in a field near Kensington, Minnesota. The writing told a North American origin story, predating Christopher Columbus’s exploration, in which Viking missionaries reached what is now Minnesota in 1362 only to be massacred by Indians. The tale’s credibility was quickly challenged and ultimately undermined by experts, but the myth took hold. Faith in the authenticity of the Kensington Rune Stone was a crucial part of the local Nordic identity. Accepted and proclaimed as truth, the story of the Rune Stone recast Native Americans as villains. The community used the account as the basis for civic celebrations for years, and advocates for the stone continue to promote its validity despite the overwhelming evidence that it was a hoax. Krueger puts this stubborn conviction in context and shows how confidence in the legitimacy of the stone has deep implications for a wide variety of Minnesotans who embraced it, including Scandinavian immigrants, Catholics, small-town boosters, and those who desired to commemorate the white settlers who died in the Dakota War of 1862. Krueger demonstrates how the resilient belief in the Rune Stone is a form of civil religion, with aspects that defy logic but illustrate how communities characterize themselves. He reveals something unique about America’s preoccupation with divine right and its troubled way of coming to terms with the history of the continent’s first residents. By considering who is included, who is left out, and how heroes and villains are created in the stories we tell about the past, Myths of the Rune Stone offers an enlightening perspective on not just Minnesota but the United States as well.
