It's a shame how much fiction based on mythology 'it's good on it's own but not great as an adaptation' applies to, scholarly research seems to lower enjoyment of this kind of media sadly. Interested to hear more on the faithfulness review.
I feel like if this came out before I really sunk my teeth into "The Táin" I'd have an easier time enjoying it for what it is. Overall I'm glad I have the opportunity to review it but I won't exactly be "easy" on it when I'm putting it up against the source material.
In general I'd like to see storytellers try to implement more archaic ways of storytelling today, as some medieval texts can feel like postmodernism but in good ways.
Yeah, medieval writers weren't using save the cat and such. I'm also interested in writing in more 'archaic' styles that feel closer to mythology, one of my short stories on my substack (The Swordsmen) is an example/attempt of that.
I also wrote a novel that was my attempt to mimic the style of the Nordic sagas after reading Jackson Crawford's translation of The Saga of the Volsungs and Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok, and revised part of it for my senior thesis in college. I even had footnotes that framed the text as a translation and explained cultural context to really capture the 'reading an old saga' experience, and channel a bit of Tolkien. One day I'll revisit it and publish it in some form.
Speaking of Tolkien, he's also definitely an example of that. That's why I've enjoyed getting around to some of his posthumously published work, such as The Children of Húrin.
I'll have to read "The Swordsmen", sounds interesting.
Personally I think using more archaic styles is helpful to get action across more easily without dealing with the inner dialogue or needless processes of protagonists and other characters. While it could get wooden after a while, I think it's better than dwelling on their angst.
It's a shame how much fiction based on mythology 'it's good on it's own but not great as an adaptation' applies to, scholarly research seems to lower enjoyment of this kind of media sadly. Interested to hear more on the faithfulness review.
I feel like if this came out before I really sunk my teeth into "The Táin" I'd have an easier time enjoying it for what it is. Overall I'm glad I have the opportunity to review it but I won't exactly be "easy" on it when I'm putting it up against the source material.
In general I'd like to see storytellers try to implement more archaic ways of storytelling today, as some medieval texts can feel like postmodernism but in good ways.
Yeah, medieval writers weren't using save the cat and such. I'm also interested in writing in more 'archaic' styles that feel closer to mythology, one of my short stories on my substack (The Swordsmen) is an example/attempt of that.
I also wrote a novel that was my attempt to mimic the style of the Nordic sagas after reading Jackson Crawford's translation of The Saga of the Volsungs and Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok, and revised part of it for my senior thesis in college. I even had footnotes that framed the text as a translation and explained cultural context to really capture the 'reading an old saga' experience, and channel a bit of Tolkien. One day I'll revisit it and publish it in some form.
Speaking of Tolkien, he's also definitely an example of that. That's why I've enjoyed getting around to some of his posthumously published work, such as The Children of Húrin.
I'll have to read "The Swordsmen", sounds interesting.
Personally I think using more archaic styles is helpful to get action across more easily without dealing with the inner dialogue or needless processes of protagonists and other characters. While it could get wooden after a while, I think it's better than dwelling on their angst.