The Land of the Green Man: A Journey through the Supernatural Landscapes of the British Isles
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.57 (945 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1784538485 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 264 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-08-12 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
A Different Travel Guide for the British Isles Wallace Rinkelhaus There is the land we know, the familiar terrain on which we live, engaging in a myriad of activities. We find our way around this land, home, by maps, by directions given by others, by personal knowledge, acquired over time and through practice and repetition.And there is the land we remember. When I drive home to North Carolina, where I was born and raised, where I came of age, educated, and began my adult life (1950s-90s), memory tells me I a. Four Stars Walter Johnston Excellent use of the English language. Engaging Folklore Analyse “All the weirwoods of the isle on which the pact was forged were then carved with faces so that the gods could witness the Pact, and the order of green men was made afterward to tend to the weirwoods and protect the isle.” – page 9, , The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire), George R. R. Martin.“It is possible that a few survived on the Isle of Faces, as so
How have the remarkably persistent folkloric traditions of the British Isles formed and been formed by the identities and psyches of those who inhabit them? In her sparkling new history, Carolyne Larrington explores the diverse ways in which a myriad of imaginary and fantastical beings has moulded the cultural history of the nation. Fairies, elves and goblins here tread purposefully, sometimes malignly, over an eerie, preternatural landscape that also conceals brownies, selkies, trows, knockers, boggarts, land-wights, Jack o'Lanterns, Barguests, the sinister Nuckleavee, or water-horse, and even Black Shuck: terrifying hell-hound of the Norfolk coast with eyes of burning coal. Focusing on liminal points where the boundaries between this world and that of the supernatural grow thin – those marginal tide-banks, saltmarshes, floodplains, moors and rock-pools wherein mystery lies – the author shows how mythologies of Mermen, Green men and Wild-men have helped and continue to help human beings deal with such ubiquitous concerns as love and lust, loss and death and continuity and change. Evoking the Wild Hunt, the ghostly bells of Lyonesse and the dread fenlands haunted by Grendel, and ranging the while from Shetland to Jersey and from Ireland to East Anglia, this is a book that will captivate all those who long for the wild place
Her previous books include The Women’s Companion to Mythology (1997), The Poetic Edda (2008), King Arthur’s Enchantresses: Morgan and her Sisters in Arthuran Tradition (I.B.Tauris, 2006) and Magical Tales: Myth, Legend and Enchantment in Children’s Books (2013). . Carolyne Larrington is Fellow and Tutor in Medieval English Literature at St John’s College, Oxford
Wonderful.' - Neil Gaiman, `Fascinating' - SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, `A joyous celebration of English folklore' - NEW STATESMAN, `Rich in stories and ideas' - SPECTATOR, `Indispensably inspiring' - TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION, `Immensely readable' - LITERARY REVIEW, `Excellent' - TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT . Most collectors of local legends have been content merely to note how they may serve to explain some feature of the landscape or to warn of some supernatural danger, but Carolyne Larrington probes more deeply. By perceptive and delicate analysis, she explores their inner meanings. She shows how, through lightly coded metaphors, they deal with the relations of man and woman, master and servant, the living and the dead, the outer semblance and the inner self, mankind and the natural environment. Whether readers are interested in the land itself, or in the culture it has produced over centuries, which continues to