Wow! Our posts get longer and longer, don't they? So many ideas...so little space!
I was joking about Wealtheow - although she is very concerned for the rights of her sons. I don't think she will come to a happy end though (mind you, happy endings is not really what that literature was about, is it ) given the warning from the past about Hildeburgh and the premonition of doom about Freawaru. Maybe the tribes can never find peace until they find the "true god"?
I am meeting Ferret next weekend at the Bristol Con so hopefully we will a chance to talk about it more then. I have not quite yet decided what the different strands will be, but the idea is to have a kind of interlace pattern with each strand being either a key theme or key character's path in the story, with intersections where they overlap. Grendel's mother will be right in the middle as the "pivot". Quite how abstract / illustrative it will be yet has not been decided. Actually once I have thought about it a bit more I will ask your opinion on the strands and how they fit toegether, if you don't mind.
There is also more to her being the person to work on this with than the fact that she is a good quilter - she is also a leather and metal worker and she (and Robin, her boyfriend who was with her that day) follow some sort of version of "Norse beliefs". She is a bit of a weaponsmith as well, actually, and we are also supposed to arrange a time when she can help us to attach hilt to some swords Cy and I made at a Dark Age sword forging day. Now, that was really cool. I really did get to "draw the sword from the stone" and was in raptures.
Anyway - the piece of hers that I am buying is called Decadence and here is a link to it in her online Portfolio I am going to take a guess that you remember the song "scarlet inside"? That is what this says to me. I think it is about the red animal under the skin.
I say we have P Craig Russell start on Beowulf. I mean, I am tempted to just jump right in with Arthurian stuff, but Beowulf is nice and enclosed to get into the swing of things Have you seen Arthur Rackham's illustrations of the Ring Cycle? You can get them all collected in a nice little art book.
Yay - Nasir. I was just telling Cy about this and we were saying that back in the days of Robin of Sherwood his sword work looked so amazing - of course we hadn't seen any Asian cinema then What is the con? Anyone else cool going to be there?
"magic grange hill" - heh! My problem with Harry Potter is that there is never any sense of risk or danger. Also Harry is just a bit "meh". They should all go and get some books with proper heroes in, or at the very least a bit of darkness! What do you think of Phillip Pullman? I like His Dark Materials a lot.
I'll have a rummage for Mists of Avalon then. Got several things to read first though.
When you say the Lord of The Rings stage show do you mean the new musical? I'd be interested here what it is like. I do think animation is the best way to get mythc ideas across on a screen. Nowadays there is not just the assumption that "oh - is that a cartoon, it must be for kids...". Probably we have anime to thank for that.
What I mean by "nature" in the GGK is that it has always read to me (one llevel, as it has many, but this one seems very loud) that it is kind of a cautionary tale. It seems to say "men are part of nature and the cycles of life, no matter how many stone castles you build, how many codes of chivalry you live by, how far your new religion tells you that you are something above the animal, you are not. You are bound to the cycles of the seasons, to birth and death, to blood and flesh and fear and pain and sexual desire. To be true to yourself is to acknowledge that you are all this, and only by doing so can you ever be more." I think it is a quest for self knowledge - "you have to see it for yourself" and that when Gawain returns to Camelot and the other knights accept wearing of the girdle as if Gawain has been their champion in a "trial of humanity" there is an implication that they are missing the point. The question of how you can be a hero and a Christian has not been answered for me. My heroes don't bow to anyone.
What I love about GGK is that the protagonists are such complex characters in themselves with so many layers of history to them. Green is a tricky colour as well
I will have think about rash covenants as well, so interested to hear your thoughts.
Talking about "things having something behind them" after reading the Alter bible translations I am sure there is a water god behind Moses somewhere! _________________
indeed are posts do seem to get longer, so in the words of led zeppelin its time to ramble on..
sorry i didnt see that you where jokeing about wealthrow. i am a bit rubbish, trying to sort out car trouble whilst posting yeastaday. i think you have have a point about the tribes not finding peace untill they find the one true god, a very clear reacurring motif where monothism and myth meet.
with the beowulf "interlace pattern", its all sounding very interesting with Grendals mother in the centure. i do not mind at all on giveing my opinion on the strands. once you have made a choice on which strands you wish to utilise, let me know when your ready and i shall have a think.
it sounds like your friend is indeed more then qualified as it where to co create your idea. the dark age sword forging day sounds so cool, i can not guess how awesome drawing the sword from the stone was. a process i have only seen at liveing history events.
the piece that you are buying from Ferret fabrications, thankyou for sending the link very, very cool stuff, kind reminds me as a whole of a subversive rennie macintosh, very arts and crafts. but yes i absoultey see what you mean by what the piece is saying in relation to "scarlet inside". will scarlet is a character that delights me, or should i say the evolution of the character in art though the ages.
yeah your right lets get P Craig Russell to do beowulf first. cos i am getting well carried away with projects... i have indeed the awesome Arthur Rackhams of the ring cycle, which is your fav illustration from those works i like the sigfried being warned by the rhinemaidens (which is my wallpaper at the mo) and Brynhilder being visited by Waltraute.
the con that i hope to meet Nasir...sorry actor mark ryan, hes just an actor norsefire1 hes not Nasir in reality the con is collectormania in milton keynes, there are a bunch of cast from torchwood and heroes as well.
i think my problem with Harry Potter is the magic, the way its treated, the way that the magic in harry's universe does not seem to have any consequenes or any real unforseen ramifications, there is no "bad luck" magic if you see what i mean there is no sacred or profane with what harry potter world does with magic, magic does not fill the air, its not in the word and the will its mundane, a labor saveing device and nothing more and harry as a hero is well wet, your right. ive been on a strange old trip with the works of Pullman, but all in all i think what he has done with his dark materials is a profound work. trying to bring the pieces back togeather and try rediscover and reconcile communication between us all is a massive achievement. have you read his sally lockhart mysteries i get a great deal out of those. have you read once upon a time in the north yet
i do indeed mean the lord of the rings musical, you saw straight though my ruse i just felt that i should see it before it closed just to see whow it stands up. i shall tell you about it once ive seen it. i agree that animation is the way to put myth up there on screen.
i agree that GGk (nice abbreviation by the way ) is indeed a cautionary tale. and indeed a quest for self knowledge but not of knowlege of the self if you see what i mean. the things you have to say are far from the conclusions that i am createing about GGK. i hope to address them when i am ready to write up on GGK. i am re reading from ritual to romance and GGK before i come up with anything solid. the question that you pose about how can be one be a hero and a christion is indeed an intresting one and one i hope to go into a bit when i comment on GGK. alas all heroes bow down to someone or something. even the great chaotic heroes Achilles and sigfried bow down to themselves.
yes the complex charcters are what makes GGK, and i was just reading about Green before i posted. its well tricky
Well, I hope you had a good time meeting Nasir (that is actor Mark Ryan!) today.
Wow - From Ritual to Romance, that was like my handbook for my A level dissertation. I know it very well. I wonder if it is here or at my parents...I will have a look for it.
My favourite pics from the Arthur Rackham Ring illustrations are Brynhilde with Grane hiding in the trees and observing, Loki setting the magic flames around her bier, Odin on Sleipnir (the legs just work so well) and Brynhilde riding up onto Seigfried's pyre. They are all so good, though, that is really impossible to choose, this is the shortest list I could get it down to.
I have read the Sally Lockhart books. I think they suffered a bit from my having read His Dark Materials first, but I still enjoyed them, although the last one didn't engage me as much as the first 3. Sally is a really good character - and I wouldn't have expected an opium addicted single mother as the heroine of a children's book
I like the way Pullman does not talk down to a young audience and keeps things nice and dark. He does brilliant female villains which are rare in new children's fiction I think. I didn't see the tv adaptation but I did hear it was a bit rubbish.
I haven't read once upon a time in the north yet. I remember hearing about it a while back and had forgotten it til just then.
I'll have another look over GGK as well so we can have a good chat about it. _________________
meeting Nasir yeastaday was great, he is a really nice guy.
yeah from ritual to romance was a bit of a handbook for me during the time i was studying T.S elliot's the wasteland.
yeah i think with pullmans books, if you have read one series of his first the other seems to be a 2nd rate. i felt this like yourself but i read the Sally Lockhart books first (adoreing anything that resembles vitctoriana in the media of the penny deadful) what i really admire about Pullman most is his understanding of the attributes of the victorian (anti) hero and antaganist and the other literary conventions that make up the penny dreadful, and how on the page Lockhart and her chums feel like there very much of that tradition. reading the ruby in the smoke felt authentic, the same vibe i got just like the the first time i had read a scandal in bohemia. i like aswell the way pullman connects to the reader, again i agree that he can do an awsome female villain. which are a homage to such proto - femme fatale's such as Irene Adler and Fah Lo Suee. i quite like both tv adaptation's. although the first is a little slow. i have them both on dvd. in a boxset. they do change one or to things, but worth the viewing.
i have come up with a few idears about GGK and a Point about use/imagrey of the green knight within GGK that i have thought up but to rush them down onto the page would make them sound over simplelistic, will have to do a little more reading look over the work again and ponder some more but i am very intrested to read what you have to say about the imagrey of the green knight.
i have yet to read the Baroque cycle but it on the list, thats for sure. thanks for reminding me about these works, i first heard of them a little while back but i had forgot about them. have you read the the versuvius club and the devil in in amber by Mark Gatiss
i picked up a book the other day, when i went to to see the Lord of the rings stage play called "isolde queen of the western isle" by Rosalind Miles, i have yet to read it, but as i understand it, the book is told though the eyes of isolde. Roasalind Miles has also done a trilogy of books about Guenevere as well.
now the lord of the rings stage play. what an awsome play. not really a musical asuch. the music acts very much glamour of middle earth and what magic it is the music is composed by finlands most successful folk band Varttina. the costume and creatures of middle earth are great. much more of a Dark age fell to the costume then the movies has. we where greeted as we sat down 15mins before by hobbits trying to find "fireflys" around the stage, one was trasported to middle earth. we where 3 rows from the front on an a aisle seat to we felt the heat of the shadow and flame in the mines of moria and had the venom of shelob spat in the audience. in style it takes a lot from baskshi's movie. if one where to approach it like a concept album being played out on stage one would not be dissaponted. for 3hrs i was in the 3rd age of middle earth
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
) given the warning from the past about Hildeburgh and the premonition of doom about Freawaru. Maybe the tribes can never find peace until they find the "true god"?
Have you seen Arthur Rackham's illustrations of the Ring Cycle? You can get them all collected in a nice little art book.
My problem with Harry Potter is that there is never any sense of risk or danger. Also Harry is just a bit "meh". They should all go and get some books with proper heroes in, or at the very least a bit of darkness! What do you think of Phillip Pullman? I like His Dark Materials a lot.
i have indeed the awesome Arthur Rackhams of the ring cycle, which is your fav illustration from those works 
i like the sigfried being warned by the rhinemaidens (which is my wallpaper at the mo) and Brynhilder being visited by Waltraute.