As can be imagined, living with Kate from The Little Bookroom is any bibliophile's dream. The amount of books and bookshelves in this house is astounding. The variety of books is no less astounding. Sitting on the desk in front of me now is The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, a medieval Icelandic saga, Analysis of Shaolin Chin Na (I have no idea), Pavel Florensky's The Pillar and Ground of Truth and The Wagner Operas, by Ernest Newman. And that's just a small sampling. The shelves are lined with everything from Plato to the Chronicles of Narnia to Conan and the Spider Goddess to Jane Austen to Diseases of Cattle and How to Recognize Shrubs. This extremely impressive collection by far dwarfs mine, which seems so prodigious when I have to move it. I love it. It's like being given a spoon in Whole Foods and being told, "Take what you want, don't worry about money." A summer of unbridled literary nibbling. Yummy.
For starters, I've been nibbling steadily of the above-mentioned Saga of King Hrolf Kraki. I idly picked it up while waiting on a slow internet connection and was hooked. The style is refreshingly straightforward and uncomplicated, but that's not to say uninteresting. After reading it I can see how Tolkien's style was influenced by these Northern sagas. Unfortunately, King Hrolf is much too short, but I'm pretty sure I can find a few more Icelandic sagas in the house (and how many houses can one say that about?). The juxtaposition of the no-frills, almost deadpan narration and the outrageous deeds being narrated is quite delightful. For example, an Elfin woman visits King Helgi, who is very depressed because his wife has left him because she found out she was really his daughter (he didn't know either). The woman appears to be an ugly old hag but the king gives her shelter anyway and thus breaks a curse that was laid upon her and she turns out to be, of course, indescribably beautiful:
She said, "Now I will leave. . . " "No," said the king," there is no possibility that you may leave so soon. We will not part that way. I will arrange a quick wedding for us, because you please me well."
She said, "You are the one to make the decision, my lord." And so that night they slept together. . . After this, she went away.
The king was now somewhat happier than before. [I would hope so!]
And speaking of weddings, this is another great little speech, again by King Helgi, but this time to his wife/daughter's mother:
"The situation is this: I want us to drink to our marriage this evening. There are enough people here for such a celebration and tonight we will share one bed." [Well, since we've got all the people here, why not? I mean, ladies, if that doesn't melt your heart, what will?]
And speaking of melting your heart, I've found a copy of C.S. Lewis's The Allegory of Love, one of the few books of his I have not read but have wanted to for quite a while. I've only just started this one, but it promises to be very interesting. It attempts to give an account of the emergence of the medieval European idea of courtly love. According to Lewis this new conception of love was radically different from the classical ideas of love as expressed in Plato, Aristotle, Virgil, St. Paul and the authors of earlier medieval sagas, such as Beowulf and the Song of Roland. The consequences of this revolution are still with us today, he says, serving as the "food both of modern sentimentality and modern cynicism." Haven't gotten too much further than that, but like I said, it looks very promising.
But what am I doing writing here when there are so many books to read? Back to the nibbling!
Oh, and, according to King Hrolf, such a thing as berserkers (warriors whose name says it all)really did exist! Very cool!
For starters, I've been nibbling steadily of the above-mentioned Saga of King Hrolf Kraki. I idly picked it up while waiting on a slow internet connection and was hooked. The style is refreshingly straightforward and uncomplicated, but that's not to say uninteresting. After reading it I can see how Tolkien's style was influenced by these Northern sagas. Unfortunately, King Hrolf is much too short, but I'm pretty sure I can find a few more Icelandic sagas in the house (and how many houses can one say that about?). The juxtaposition of the no-frills, almost deadpan narration and the outrageous deeds being narrated is quite delightful. For example, an Elfin woman visits King Helgi, who is very depressed because his wife has left him because she found out she was really his daughter (he didn't know either). The woman appears to be an ugly old hag but the king gives her shelter anyway and thus breaks a curse that was laid upon her and she turns out to be, of course, indescribably beautiful:
She said, "Now I will leave. . . " "No," said the king," there is no possibility that you may leave so soon. We will not part that way. I will arrange a quick wedding for us, because you please me well."
She said, "You are the one to make the decision, my lord." And so that night they slept together. . . After this, she went away.
The king was now somewhat happier than before. [I would hope so!]
And speaking of weddings, this is another great little speech, again by King Helgi, but this time to his wife/daughter's mother:
"The situation is this: I want us to drink to our marriage this evening. There are enough people here for such a celebration and tonight we will share one bed." [Well, since we've got all the people here, why not? I mean, ladies, if that doesn't melt your heart, what will?]
And speaking of melting your heart, I've found a copy of C.S. Lewis's The Allegory of Love, one of the few books of his I have not read but have wanted to for quite a while. I've only just started this one, but it promises to be very interesting. It attempts to give an account of the emergence of the medieval European idea of courtly love. According to Lewis this new conception of love was radically different from the classical ideas of love as expressed in Plato, Aristotle, Virgil, St. Paul and the authors of earlier medieval sagas, such as Beowulf and the Song of Roland. The consequences of this revolution are still with us today, he says, serving as the "food both of modern sentimentality and modern cynicism." Haven't gotten too much further than that, but like I said, it looks very promising.
But what am I doing writing here when there are so many books to read? Back to the nibbling!
Oh, and, according to King Hrolf, such a thing as berserkers (warriors whose name says it all)really did exist! Very cool!
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