Resources for Mythology and Folklore

Although there are many sources for mythology and folklore online, I often prefer to make use of non-electronic books when I just want to browse or quickly need to look up a name. These are a few of my favourite collections.

The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology by Arthur Cotterell, Rachel Storm

This handy encyclopaedia contains six different sections: “The myths of Greece and Rome”, “The myths of the Celtic world”, “The myths of the Nordic lands”, “The myths of Egypt and West Asia”, “The myths of South and Central Asia”, and “The myths of East Asia”. Within these the gods, heroes, etc. are given in alphabetical order, which makes it very user-friendly. Lavishly illustrated (and using, among others, artwork by Alan Lee) it is also a delight to browse. It’s just a shame they used one of Alan Lee’s The Lord of the Rings artworks in the book, but I can look past that for the wealth of material it contains. 

On a side note, this book isn’t an exhaustive account of the mythologies. I would also have liked them to include a variety of mythologies from Africa itself, but unfortunately the Americas, Oceania, (most of) Africa, etc. are not covered in this book. Therefore, if you’re looking for these specific mythologies, this isn’t the book for you. In other aspects it is a handy one to have on the shelf.

Myths & Legends: An Illustrated Guide to their Origins and Meanings by Philip Wilkinson

This book is beautifully designed with gold accents throughout and covers most of the major mythologies quite well. Because of the way in which it is written it is a great book for those new to these mythologies. Rather than used to only look up names or specific objects, this book is meant for reading and browsing.

It is broadly divided into geographical areas – Europe, West and Central Asia, South and East Asia – and, behold – Africa, the Americas and Oceania (although the last three is really only touched upon).

Like The Ultimate Encyclopaedia above, this one also has pages in which recurring motifs (e.g. “abandoned children”, “earth deities”, “shamans”, etc.) across mythologies are shown.

The Golden Bough by James George Frazer

This classic work by Frazer is a dazzling mixture of culture, religion, mythology and folklore. First published between 1890 and 1915, this work is a must for any writer’s bookshelf (especially if you write speculative fiction), in my opinion. Although it is available for free online, I do prefer the Wordsworth edition when I’m just reading or browsing (or just don’t want to stare at a screen). This book is described as follows by Wordsworth Reference:

Remarkable for its vast assembly of facts and its charm of presentation ... it discusses fertility rites, human sacrifice, the dying god, the scapegoat and many other symbols and practices which have influenced a whole generation of 20^th century writers, including D.H. Lawrence, Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot.

Have you found these books useful? Or which other collections or books do you prefer? I would love to know!

TED: Andrew Fitzgerald - Twitter-fiksie

TED: Andrew Fitzgerald: Adventures in Twitter fiction

Book Review: No Place for a Lady by Anne Harries

“The Boer War is razing South Africa to the ground. In the midst of these horrors are three women fighting for love, survival and justice: Sarah, an angelically beautiful nurse from England; Louise, her madcap friend; and the dynamic campaigner Emily Hobhouse.”

Perhaps I started reading the book with too many pre-conceived ideas about what the story would be like, but I just couldn’t really get into the book. Some of the melodramatic passages in the book jarred me out of the story even though I understand that the writer wanted the meetings between Sarah and Patch to be different from the rest of the book. For much of the book it also moved too slowly, while the denouement and ending was again too rushed and abrupt. The urgency I expected from a novel set in the midst of war just wasn’t there and some of the characters simply remained little more than shadows.  

That said, the book was interesting simply for being from the viewpoint of British nurses who came to South Africa and showing (some of) the work of Emily Hobhouse and other women. But the book also gives an array of viewpoints with regard to the war and war effort through the eyes of the characters as they move from Britain to South Africa to the Cape hospitals and at last the concentration camps.

All in all, I wouldn’t say it’s a bad book. The writing just isn’t completely my taste and the book didn’t stay with me after reading it as I thought it would. As I say – I might have started reading with too many pre-conceived ideas. But if you really enjoy historical fiction and don’t mind some melodrama, this might be the book for you.

Book Gnomes out of ten:  Five

Check out Goodreads for this and other books. 

Available online from Kalahari, Takealot and Amazon. 

’n Potgooi en historiese fiksie

Potgooi oor vertaling

Sondag 2 Februarie 2014 was daar ’n baie interessante insetsel oor nie-fiksie vertaling op Die tale wat ons praat op RSG. Luister gerus hier na die gesprek tussen Magdaleen Krüger en Ilse Salzwedel.

Huidige leesgenot

Tans lees ek Karel Schoeman se klassieke werk ’n Ander land. Soos sy ander boeke stel dié een nie teleur nie. Die 2006 Human & Rousseau Klassiek-uitgawe is aanlyn by Kalahari, Exclusive Books en Takealot beskikbaar vir tussen R173 en R220.

Ek kan ook Schoeman se boeke Hierdie lewe en Na die geliefde land aanbeveel.

Gaan kyk gerus na my Goodreads-bladsy vir ander boeke wat ek al opgelaai het.

Language Matters: Some notes on South African English

Robots, robots, everywhere!

In South Africa traffic lights are very often referred to as “robots” – and not only in English. Though I am not sure where and when exactly this started, I do have an idea about why it keeps on being used.

"Red Robot" by Splenetic

1. When you give directions it is faster to say “turn right and the robot” than “turn right at the traffic light”. This is especially helpful if you, like me, are really bad with directions.
2. The true reason, in my opinion, is that you get to say things like “turn right at the robot” in a normal conversation and, after a rain storm (especially in Sandton *cough cough*) you get to say “there’s a lot of robots out” or simply “the robots are out”. While sitting in traffic it’s a lot more entertaining to think it’s caused by robots lumbering about and blocking traffic than a few lights not working.

Therefore, I will keep on referring to traffic lights as robots. Because sometimes you just need a little whimsy in your day. 

It is done!

That’s it. This morning I handed in the completed Eternal Dissertation.

I’m tumbling between wanting to party and just sleeping (but not while I’m at work, of course…)

My professor also gave me two books! (Trying not to fill the line with exclamation marks.)

So, in-between the wanting to party and sleep I’m also feeling a bit like this: