Thoughts From Heather

Heather cannot be with us this Friday, so she sent her comments.

Title: The Norse Myths introduced and retold by Kevin Crossley-Holland.
I only managed to read about 80 pages of this book and half of that was just the introduction--which actually covered most of the plot lines that were then set out in narrative in the middle portion of the book. It also gave some cultural background of the Northern European pre-Christian (i.e. Viking) society. Interesting to note that these myths are the latest in pre-Christian history; these societies worshiped pagan deities longer than any other Western group.

I have to admit that this book was a struggle for me. The stories were brief, (mostly) violent, with manipulative characters and not overly engaging as written which seemed ironic since many of the myths spoke of the high value of the poetic arts. Odin--the highest of the gods--once says, "I may be strong but to be a poet: that is the highest calling." Maybe these statements were just included by the original narrator in carnival barker style for self-validation and to encourage folks they that were getting their money's worth . Obviously, something has been lost in translation--not only from one language to another, but also from the oral tradition to the written one. One review mentioned that the translator's work grew stronger as he went along which I think I was starting to see but didn't give it more time to find out if the myths became more story-like and less reporting.

A few random thoughts:

• I chose Norse Myths because of my own cultural heritage and also because I'd heard that both CS Lewis and Tolkien had been influenced by these myths. I could certainly see some parallels in Tolkien's work in setting his stories in "Middle Earth" as well as caricatures like dwarfs and giants.
• Violence--I guess I don't really read stories that gloss violence as just part of the story but this is probably more prevalent than I realize in TV, movies, video games, even the news--I have just chosen against it in my life.
  
• Overall--at least of what I read--not much edifying so had a hard time identifying how such stories would shape a positive worldview.
• Couple of engaging lines
• The dwarfs make a strong cord out of the sound a cat makes when it moves, a woman's beard, the roots of the mountain, the sinews of a bear, the breath of a fish and the spittle of a bird. The gods doubt the strength of the cord but then one tells them to "remember the cunning of the dwarfs. After all have you ever thought why a cat makes no noise when it moves, and why a woman has no beard? You can never prove that a mountain has no roots, but many things that seem not to exist are simply in the dwarfs safekeeping."
• This one just cracked me up--"To love a fickle woman is like this:  . . . hunting reindeer over slippery rocks with a pulled hamstring."

I probably wouldn't return to this reading again but am grateful to Alice for stretching us.