Ragnarök: The End of the Gods
Booker Prize winner Dame Antonia Byatt breathes life into the Ragnorak myth, the story of the end of the gods in Norse mythology. Ragnarok retells the finale of Norse mythology. A story of the destruction of life on this planet and the end of the gods themselves: what more relevant myth could...
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Booker Prize winner Dame Antonia Byatt breathes life into the Ragnorak myth, the story of the end of the gods in Norse mythology. Ragnarok retells the finale of Norse mythology. A story of the destruction of life on this planet and the end of the gods themselves: what more relevant myth could any modern writer choose? Just as Wagner used this dramatic and catastrophic struggle for the climax of his Ring Cycle, so AS Byatt now reinvents it in all its intensity and glory. As the bombs of the Blitz rain down on Britain, one young girl is evacuated to the countryside. She is struggling to make sense of her new wartime life. Then she is given a copy of Asgard and the Gods - a book of ancient Norse myths - and her inner and outer worlds are transformed.War, natural disaster, reckless gods and the recognition of impermanence in the world are just some of the threads that AS Byatt weaves into this most timely of books. Linguistically stunning and imaginatively abundant, this is a landmark.
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Format: hardcover
ISBN:
9780802129925 (0802129927)
ASIN: 802129927
Publish date: February 7th 2012
Publisher: Grove Press
Pages no: 177
Edition language: English
Series: Canongate Myths (#17)
First, Canongate Myths is a series of novellas in which each book focuses on a different ancient myth. Each book in the series so far is written by a different author and each can be read independently of the series.A young girl tries to escape the brittle world around her by diving into a book abou...
My first impression of this book was "I thought it would be thicker".My final impression is "I wish it was thicker".I know it is impossible; author chose to focus on Ragnarok, not Norse or Germanic mythology in general. The long introduction of dramatis personae is merely so we would feel more conne...
Update (8/15/12): A week or so ago I listened to the Audio CD and was impressed - again - with just how good this book is. The reader (whose name I've forgotten) does an excellent job, and I gained a better understanding of what I had read from listening to it.Update (6/6/12): I found the short stor...
Rating: 1* of five (p41)"...Airmen were the Wild Hunt. They were dangerous. If any hunter dismounted, he crumbled to dust, the child read. It was a good story, a story with meaning, fear and danger were in it, and things out of control."I have Byatted for the last time. I love the Norse myths, and t...
A brilliantly imagined retelling of the apocalyptic Norse myth.
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