Book Review (Fiction) - Norse Mythology

Norse Mythology

Neil Gaiman

Bloomsbury 2017                                                                  279 Pages

The old Norse religion is now well-nigh extinct in its native Germany and Scandinavia; being displaced by Lutheran Christianity. The associated  mythology lives on, though, in folktales, Wagnerian opera – and, of all things, American comics from the house of Marvel that also gave us such demi-gods as Spider-Man and Captain America.

That’s how celebrated author Neil Gaiman (American Gods, Anansi Boys) first encountered Norse myth as a 7-year-old, in the pages of comic-book maestro Stan Lee’s The Mighty Thor. As drawn by artist Jack Kirby, the Norse God of thunder was noble, powerful, blonde and good-looking.

As a curious boy wanting to know more, Gaiman investigated the original mythology. Only to discover that the original Thor was an often petulant red-bearded lout and not the sharpest knife in the drawer, being easily misled. His father Odin, far from being the wise omniscient patriarch, could be cunning, dangerous and unpredictable...

But it is Loki, the trickster God, a colorful and complex rogue who really steals the show in many of the stories in Norse Mythology. Far more than a simple representation of evil and chaos, this shape-shifting son of giants’ mischievous pranks gets the Gods into all kinds of trouble but his cunning also frequently saves the day. As an exasperated Thor declares, “when something goes wrong, the first thing I always think is, it is Loki’s fault. It saves a lot of time.” 

Apart from the Big Three (Odin, Thor and Loki), several other gods such as Freya, Idun and Balder are also represented in this book. The gods of the Vanir and the Aesir merged as those tribes did, but as the old Norse tradition was overwhelmingly oral, much was lost with the advent of Christianity that banned record of this rich heritage as brute paganism.

So we will never know the tales and myths about Eir, doctor to the Gods. Or of Lofn, the goddess of marriage and Sjofn, the goddess of love. Or Vor, the goddess of wisdom...

Many of the stories in Norse Mythology are retold by Gaiman as a bard would recount them in a saga arc to pass cold winter nights before a roaring fire. Some are quite short, being not more than a single page. The author uses a beautiful poetic voice that is also simple and clear. This reveals the Norse Gods as being capable of getting drunk, committing adultery (and getting divorced!), being cruel, treacherous and wanton, but also brave, smart and resourceful.

And hanging over it all is the doom of Ragnarok,the end of days. The Gods know they will inevitably perish, but are determined to do so in a blaze of glory – that’s why Odin treasures the best of fallen mortal warriors in Valhalla for the final conflict.

Not so final, though. For Norse Mythology follows the cyclic nature of the old sagas; with a mythical world born out of fire and ice that eventually ends in a cataclysm of fire and ice – but with the promise of future rebirth.