Nordic Gods and Heroes
by Padraic Colum

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Book Reviews of Nordic Gods and Heroes

Book Review: A Breath of Old, Cold Air
Summary: 5 Stars

It is probably best, when talking of the gods and heroes of a people, to elevate one's tone a bit. And yet the tales must retain drama, and some humanity must stick to these wraiths, or there is no story. So the language cannot be too reverent or the whole thing becomes plodding and foreign.

Padraic Colum strikes just the right note, it seems to me, in these connected tales that lead up to the world-destroying-and-recreation event of the Northern peoples, the Fimbul Winter and the Twilight of the Gods. His words are evocative and rhythmic, a bit old-fashioned, and he slips in, matter-of-factly, the strangeness of that world of heroes, giants, and dwarfs, where not only the people but their things have proper names. But contributing equally to the telling are the illustrations - particularly the line drawings - of Willy Pogony. (As Alice says, what is the use of a book without pictures?) And these pictures match and amplify the text so well because they seem limnings of a magical reality, suggested in a sparse vocabulary of line that lets imagination have free play.

The whole book is lovely. It's a Dover book, with creamy pages, good binding, and a combination of print and display faces that add to the effect of the illustrations and prose. And it is a tale, really, not a reference work of Nordic myths, thanks be to Odin!

Summary of Nordic Gods and Heroes

Occult Books

• Books > Subjects > Religion & Spirituality
• Religious Studies > Comparative Religion
• Social Sciences