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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
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: Neil Price
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465096999
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 629
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Book Description
The definitive history of the Vikings -- from arts and culture to politics and cosmology -- by a distinguished archaeologist with decades of expertise The Viking Age -- from 750 to 1050 -- saw an unprecedented expansion of the Scandinavian peoples into the wider world. As traders and raiders, explorers and colonists, they ranged from eastern North America to the Asian steppe. But for centuries, the Vikings have been seen through the eyes of others, distorted to suit the tastes of medieval clerics and Elizabethan playwrights, Victorian imperialists, Nazis, and more. None of these appropriations capture the real Vikings, or the richness and sophistication of their culture. Based on the latest archaeological and textual evidence, Children of Ash and Elm tells the story of the Vikings on their own terms: their politics, their cosmology and religion, their material world. Known today for a stereotype of maritime violence, the Vikings exported new ideas, technologies, beliefs, and practices to the lands they discovered and the peoples they encountered, and in the process were themselves changed. From Eirík Bloodaxe, who fought his way to a kingdom, to Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir, the most traveled woman in the world, Children of Ash and Elm is the definitive history of the Vikings and their time.
Author: Anders Andrén
Publisher: Nordic Academic Press
ISBN: 918911681X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417
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Book Description
The study of Old Norse Religion is a truly multidisciplinary and international field of research. The rituals, myths and narratives of pre-Christian Scandinavia are investigated and interpreted by archaeologists, historians, art historians, historians of religion as well as scholars of literature, onomastics and Scandinavian studies. For obvious reasons, these studies belong to the main curricula in Scandinavia but are also carried out at many other universities in Europe, the United States and Australia a fact that is evident to any reader of this book. In order to bring this broad and varied field of research together, an international conference on Old Norse religion was held in Lund in June 2004. About two hundred delegates from more than fifteen countries took part. The intention was to gather researchers to encourage and improve scholarly exchange and dialogue, and Old Norse religion in long-term perspectives presents a selection of the proceedings from that conference. The 75 contributions elucidate topics such as worldview and cosmology, ritual and religious practice, myth and memory as well as the reception and present-day use of Old Norse religion. The main editors of this volume have directed the multidisciplinary research project Roads to Midgard since 2000. The project is based at Lund University and funded by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation.
Author: Neil Matt Hamilton
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781696250566
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 132
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Book Description
Norse myths have long fascinated millions around the world. Tales of Norse Gods like Thor and Loki have sustained the imaginations of adult and young people alike, even into modern times. Indeed, figures of Norse legend have permeated into mainstream culture in the form of popular characters from television and film. One God, in particular, has even given his name to a day of the week. In Norse Mythology: Fascinating Myths and Legends of Norse Gods, Heroes, and Viking Beliefs, you will be exposed to the original tales of the Gods; the tales that modern depictions are ultimately inspired by. Norse myth has become a part of us in ways that we do not fully appreciate. Indeed, the Norse God Thor has come to embody the ideal of strength and masculinity. The trickster God Loki, on the other hand, has come to represent some of the more sinister and unpredictable elements of Man. In fact, the Norse used their Gods to embody those aspects of Man's own nature that were often at war. In Norse Mythology: Fascinating Myths and Legends of Norse Gods, Heroes, and Viking Beliefs, you will learn about all the Gods by reading about the tales that formed the basis of the myths about them. Norse Mythology: Fascinating Myths and Legends of Norse Gods, Heroes, and Viking Beliefs explores the Norse Gods and the Viking belief system through the tales told by people living at the time. They told tales about the formation of the universe, about how the universe was divided, and how the Gods and giants made war with one another. Because the Viking belief system was reflected in these tales about their Gods and historical figures, learning about the Gods and heroes in this way allows the reader to understand who the Vikings were and why they were.The world of Norse myth was very different from our own. The people at the heart of Norse civilization - living in modern-day Scandinavia, Northern Germany, as well as other areas of Norse settlement like Iceland and the British Isles - these people were part of a culture so far removed from how we think and perceive today as to be almost unrecognizable. But that does not mean that you must struggle to understand Norse legends and the Vikings who believed in them.In Norse Mythology: Fascinating Myths and Legends of Norse Gods, Heroes, and Viking Beliefs, you will learn everything there is to learn about Norse mythology. You will learn the different groups of living things that existed in the universe, how the universe was divided into nine worlds, who the major Gods and Goddesses were, who some of the important heroes were, and how the speakers of Old Norse recorded the feats of gods and men in books called sagas. These sagas told the tales of the great figures of Norse legend. In Norse Mythology: Fascinating Myths and Legends of Norse Gods, Heroes, and Viking Beliefs, you will learn some of these tales including: The Tale of Odin's Eye and Mimir's Head The Unusual Wedding of Freyja Loki and His Strange Children The Death of Baldr The Kidnapping of Idun The Birth of Sigurd And Ragnarok: the Twilight of the Gods Buy now to learn more than you ever dreamed about Norse Gods and Goddesses and Viking beliefs.
Author: Nancy Marie Brown
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1137073713
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256
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Book Description
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. Their creator is 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: Neil Matt Hamilton
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781914100000
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Norse myths have long fascinated millions around the world. Tales of Norse Gods like Thor and Loki have sustained the imaginations of adult and young people alike, even into modern times. Indeed, figures of Norse legend have permeated into mainstream culture in the form of popular characters from television and film. One God, in particular, has even given his name to a day of the week. In Norse Mythology: Fascinating Myths and Legends of Norse Gods, Heroes, and Viking Beliefs, you will be exposed to the original tales of the Gods; the tales that modern depictions are ultimately inspired by.Norse myth has become a part of us in ways that we do not fully appreciate. Indeed, the Norse God Thor has come to embody the ideal of strength and masculinity. The trickster God Loki, on the other hand, has come to represent some of the more sinister and unpredictable elements of Man. In fact, the Norse used their Gods to embody those aspects of Man's own nature that were often at war. In Norse Mythology: Fascinating Myths and Legends of Norse Gods, Heroes, and Viking Beliefs, you will learn about all the Gods by reading about the tales that formed the basis of the myths about them.Norse Mythology: Fascinating Myths and Legends of Norse Gods, Heroes, and Viking Beliefs explores the Norse Gods and the Viking belief system through the tales told by people living at the time. They told tales about the formation of the universe, about how the universe was divided, and how the Gods and giants made war with one another. Because the Viking belief system was reflected in these tales about their Gods and historical figures, learning about the Gods and heroes in this way allows the reader to understand who the Vikings were and why they were.The world of Norse myth was very different from our own. The people at the heart of Norse civilization - living in modern-day Scandinavia, Northern Germany, as well as other areas of Norse settlement like Iceland and the British Isles - these people were part of a culture so far removed from how we think and perceive today as to be almost unrecognizable. But that does not mean that you must struggle to understand Norse legends and the Vikings who believed in them.In Norse Mythology: Fascinating Myths and Legends of Norse Gods, Heroes, and Viking Beliefs, you will learn everything there is to learn about Norse mythology. You will learn the different groups of living things that existed in the universe, how the universe was divided into nine worlds, who the major Gods and Goddesses were, who some of the important heroes were, and how the speakers of Old Norse recorded the feats of gods and men in books called sagas. These sagas told the tales of the great figures of Norse legend. In Norse Mythology: Fascinating Myths and Legends of Norse Gods, Heroes, and Viking Beliefs, you will learn some of these tales including: The Tale of Odin's Eye and Mimir's Head The Unusual Wedding of Freyja Loki and His Strange Children The Death of Baldr The Kidnapping of Idun The Birth of Sigurd And Ragnarok: the Twilight of the Gods Buy now to learn more than you ever dreamed about Norse Gods and Goddesses and Viking beliefs.
Author: Joanne Harris
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0375849483
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 546
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Book Description
Seven o’clock on a Monday morning, five hundred years after the end of the world, and goblins had been at the cellar again. . . . Not that anyone would admit it was goblins. In Maddy Smith’s world, order rules. Chaos, old gods, fairies, goblins, magic, glamours–all of these were supposedly vanquished centuries ago. But Maddy knows that a small bit of magic has survived. The “ruinmark” she was born with on her palm proves it–and makes the other villagers fearful that she is a witch (though helpful in dealing with the goblins-in-the-cellar problem). But the mysterious traveler One-Eye sees Maddy’s mark not as a defect, but as a destiny. And Maddy will need every scrap of forbidden magic One-Eye can teach her if she is to survive that destiny.
