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Ragnarok (2011)

by A.S. Byatt(Favorite Author)

3.51 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1847670644 (ISBN13: 9781847670649)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Canongate

series

Canongate Myths

review 1: The Norse tales have always seemed to me the most powerful of the old mythologies that have come down to us in anything approaching a coherent body of work. Unlike the Graeco-Roman corpus, we have not been overexposed to them through Hollywood and cliche (with the exception of Thor, who is relatively uninteresting). The figure of Odin seems to me particularly compelling, the wandering riddler and seeker of wisdom; the Voluspo, the ancient poem in which he resurrects and questions a dead witch about the coming end of his world has always struck me as gripping. (I am not alone; it is among the old Norse poems that Auden helped translate). Then there is Loki, the shapeshifter par excellence, and Baldr, the beautiful, doomed god that his blind brother Hodr is tricked into kill... moreing. (Like any corpus of myths, the Norse tales have their weaknesses, principally the lack of compelling goddesses -- no Diana of the Hunt or tricky Athena here -- and the violent association with the Nazis). What captured my imagination was, above all, the tragedy of the looming Ragnarok -- the end of the world. A.S. Byatt took up this material as part of the Canongate series of myths retold. She brings a modern feel to the stories, linking this tale of the end of an old mythic world to modern environmental degradation, and, more consistently and successfully, to an England during the Blitz where a "thin child" reads the stories. There is not much new here for someone who knows the myths well, but they are retold with vigor, skill, lucid prose, and the ability to make everything from the world-tree Yggdrasil to the gods themselves fresh again.
review 2: Norse myths. I needed more background knowledge for this one. As I read this, it made me think that this is how my students feel when they read the social studies text book. I read it, but I don't get it! Two stars because the writing wasn't bad and it is good to have a challenge; glad it was short. Note to comic book fans: you have a better chance of getting it according to a few of my bookclub friends. less

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