I read ‘The Iliad,’ ‘The Oddysey,’ and ‘Beowulf’ when I was in high school. Followed by parts of ‘Inferno’ and ‘Cantebury Tales.’ In college when studying Japanese, I read ‘The Tale of Genji.’
The long form of ‘sagas,’ whether in poetic or prose form, pull me in. What are some long-form myths and tales you enjoy?
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I’m late to the party. I love these kinds of things. For something a bit more esoteric I recommend the Book of Enoch. Also the Aenead is absolutely thrilling with some very exciting fight scenes. The Arthurian legends are my favourite though, particularly Le Morte D’arthur by Thomas Mallory, though it can be a bit long winded and repetitive at times.
If you like the basic structure and action of mythology, then pulp adventure fiction from the early/mid 20th century is worth investigating. The original Conan stories by Robert E. Howard are fantastic. If you prefer cosmic horror then HP Lovecraft is the originator, and arguably the best. Clark Ashton Smith has beautifully written adventure stories that straddle swashbuckling and horror. I could go on and on, but most authors from the time are in the public domain and can be read for free through project Gutenberg or other ebook services like that.
Rereading Lovecraft’s Chthulu Mythos. I’ve read most of his popular novellas, it’s fun going and reading little 2-page shorts about going crazy and stuff.
I am just reading the Caxton version of Malory’s stuff now - still near the beginning of the second volume, which is to say: about halfway through. I can’t help but envision the Monty Python crew as the main cast of characters, and that probably helps with getting through some of it that might otherwise seem too dry or repetitive. They take their chivalric pomp intensely seriously!
I prefer the Caxton print. I recently finished the Winchester Manuscript, but it was a slightly abridged version. It mostly left out repetitive jousting, but those are my favourite parts!
I’ve also read the first three and parts of the next two. So we’re on par with that. I think the Iliad and the odyssey are amazing. I named my bong in college Little Ajax.
I’m a huge Tolkien fan, and some may know that he aspired to create a mythology for Britain. At least for the time being I’d figure it’s fine to discuss the silmarillion at least within this community, if not Tolkien’s entire corpus.
Would you say Grimms fairy tales fit in here too?
Trying to gauge if it needs to be actual mythology
I just bought a copy of the original Grimms and look forward to digging in. I believe a Saga usually follows one character or a family of one character, I could be wrong, though.
The Silmarillion was a huge surprise when I read it. I remember thinking it reminded more of the Bible than Lord of the Rings… but in a good way.
Yeah it’s a really unique book. Fascinating to see how Tolkien’s Christian worldview is incorporated into his fantasy mythology. You could teach a whole class analyzing the relationship between Christianity and Tolkien’s work. And I would bet that class already exists somewhere.
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