The Monsters and the Critics
Marko Amnell
mentioned my favourite quote from "The Monsters and the Critics" in r.a.b.
already; I think it was in some debate with Mike Morris. Here it is again:
"[Courage] is the great contribution of early Northern literature. This is
not a military judgment. I am not asserting that, if the Trojans could have
employed a Northern king and his companions, they would have driven
Agammemnon and Achilles into the sea . . . . I refer rather to the central
position the creed of unyielding will holds in the North. We due reserve we
may turn to the tradition of pagan imagination as it survived in Icelandic.
Of English pre-Christian mythology we know practically nothing. But the
fundamentally similar heroic temper of ancient England and Scandinavia
cannot have been founded on . . . mythologies divergent on this essential
point. 'The Northern Gods,' [W.P.] Ker said, 'have an exultant extravagance
in their warfare which makes them more like Titans than Olympians; only they
are on the right side, only it is not the side that wins. The winning side
is Chaos and Unreason'-mythologically, the monsters-'but the gods, who are
defeated, think that defeat no refutation.' And in their war men are their
chosen allies, able when heroic to share in this 'absolute resistance,
perfect because without hope.'
I think that is an insightful observation about the fearless Viking ethos,
and I agree with Tolkien that the critics make a mistake in ignoring
monsters. I'm not sure Tolkien's observations are directly relevant to the
latest crop of monsters in popular culture. I saw the film "Zombieland" and
while the cameo by Bill Murray was hilarious, otherwise watching the movie
mainly reminded me forcefully that I am no longer in my twenties. I'm sure I
would have enjoyed the movie 15 or 20 years ago.
There is an article about the current monster fad in popular culture in The
Chronicle of Higher Education.
------------------------------------------------------------
October 25, 2009
Monsters and the Moral Imagination
By Stephen T. Asma
Monsters are on the rise. People can't seem to get enough of vampires
lately, and zombies have a new lease on life. This year and next we have the
release of the usual horror films like Saw VI and Halloween II; the campy
mayhem of Zombieland; more-pensive forays like 9 (produced by Tim Burton and
Timur Bekmambetov), The Wolfman, and The Twilight Saga: New Moon; and, more
playfully, Where the Wild Things Are (a Dave Eggers rewrite of the Maurice
Sendak classic).
The reasons for this increased monster culture are hard to pin down. Maybe
it's social anxiety in the post-9/11 decade, or the conflict in Iraq-some
think there's an uptick in such fare during wartime. Perhaps it's the
economic downturn. The monster proliferation can be explained, in part, by
exploring the meaning of monsters. Popular culture is re-enchanted with
meaningful monsters, and even the eggheads are stroking their chins-last
month saw the seventh global conference on Monsters and the Monstrous at the
University of Oxford.
http://chronicle.com/article/Monstersthe-Moral/48886/
Arindam Banerjee
"Marko Amnell" <marko....@kolumbus.fi> wrote in message
news:7lo0g6F...@mid.individual.net...
I was given the encyclopaedia "Pictorial Knowledge" when I was a small boy,
and that was perhaps the best gift my parents gave me.
In those volumes there was a section of Norse mythology, which made a
profound impression upon me. Classical information only grows better upon
one with passage of time, and aquisition of experience. Those tales are the
greatest gift to us from antiquity, as they have the quality of
timelessness, and they relate to each of us, although in different ways.
When I think of Norse monsters, I do not think of them as chaos and
unreason, but as examples of cunning and deceit, great intelligence and
superficial wit, an appearance of enormous latent power but also a saving
streak of honesty. As opposed to them, Thor and his god-mates are like
village bumpkins, simple-minded and naive. They feel they have no chance
against the enemy, but the enemy's main skill is to make the gods
underestimate their own strengths.
I am sure you must have read of Thor's adventures in GiantLand, Marko. If
you have not give a yip and I will post a summary. Those adventures are the
most meaningful, to me.
Cheers,
Arindam Banerjee.