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Loading... Curious Myths of the Middle-Agesby Sabine Baring-Gould
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. An anthology unlike any other. An investigative approach to European fables of the middle ages, and tracing their origins across time and space, even to places as far away as Persia and India. A must read for anyone interested in a retelling of old myths and legends from an anthropological perspective, it nevertheless makes for a very interesting read even if you're only looking for something to while away some time. ( ) Baring-Gould covers an interesting array of topics, from well-known subjects like the Pied Piper of Hamelin and William Tell, to obscure subjects like the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus and Bishop Hatto. For this, he deserves thanks and many stars in his rating. However I had to delete a star or two due to his annoying habit of presuming readers are fluent in Latin and French. Granted, when Baring-Gould wrote this, most of his intended readers probably could speak fluent Latin and French but it is perhaps too much to ask readers of the 2005 reprint to understand, for example, Appendix D (on "Shipping the Dead"), which almost entirely consists of a dense Latin tract containing references to "carne familiariter agnitus" (which I translated as "meat is familiar to Aunt Agnes") and "eosdem circinabat fluminis fluctus" (which I'd like to think refers to "someone's fart circulating around the room"). Also, the stories did get repetitive after a while as Baring-Gould painstakingly repeats the story numerous times as he shows that many different areas of Europe have similar stories. And I think I got my Olafs mixed up at one point. This is a version abridged by Edward Hardy: I am unaware of the extent of the abridgement. I expected on picking this up to be the stories I think of as myths of the period: Arthur and Roland and Ossian and Carolus Magnus - but instead it covers the tales that I think of as more the urban legends of the time: the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus and Pope Joan and the Wandering Jew and their kin. I prefer those lesser stories anyway. Baring-Gould covers these stories, from the classics to lesser-known arcana like the Schamir of Solomon and St. Patrick's Purgatory, in his readable, comprehensive Victorian style, treasuring both wonder and scholarship for their own sakes. The individual sections are short enough to be quickly read and each is illustrated with a fabulous medieval woodcut. Definitely recommended. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to Publisher SeriesContainsIs abridged in
Fiction.
Mythology.
Folklore.
HTML: Step back into the romance and primal conflict of the medieval period with this collection of fairy tales and folklore from the era. Equal parts charmingly quaint and bracingly brutal, this carefully curated volume is sure to engage and enthrall readers who are curious about the myth and folklore of the Middle Ages. .No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)398.2Social sciences Customs, Etiquette, Folklore Folklore Folk literatureLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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