Stories
Things I have been reading lately:
Myths!
Not like this is a news flash for some of you, but Shakespeare rips off classical Greek mythology like nobody's business. While studying for my mythology final, I came across the story of Philomela, Procne, and Tereus, which is extremely similar to Titus Andronicus, down to the eating of children and the cutting out of tongues. I'm assuming the Romans adopted this myth and then Shakespeare grabbed it from them, but it's still kind of funny to run across it and think, "hey, I know this story."
More Myths!
Did you guys know that the Norse creation myths have the world created from the dead body of the first giant? As the story goes, Odin (the main god of the Norse pantheon) slew the first giant, Ymir, and ended the war between gods and giants. He rolled Ymir's body into the chasm Ginnungagap, and from it he created the universe. He carved Midgard, the world of men, from Ymir's flesh, and fenced it with his eyebrows (!!!!). He scattered his teeth and bones to make mountains, and made his hair into plants. He set Ymir's skull over it all to form the sky, and, as my book says, "scattered Ymir's brains as the softly drifting clouds", which is my favorite line in any book ever, maybe. Then Odin found a bunch of creatures living like maggots in Ymir's body, and these were the light and dark elves. Later on he and Loki carved the first man and woman from some trees, but that isn't as exciting as finding out that elves = maggots. Ridiculously awesome.
Other scandinavian stories:
My mom lent me a Moomintroll book I've never read before. I think I've mentioned this series before on this el-jay, but I can't remember where, so here's a quick summary: Moomintroll is this series by a Finnish lesbian named Tove Jansson. It's a children's book series about a weird little family of creatures with big noses, and their adventures with their friends. It's whimsical and charming and a major part of my childhood.
Anyway, the book my mom lent me is called Moominvalley In November, and it doesn't feature the main family- instead it's about a few of the satellite characters, including a lonely little boy named Toft, a tramp named Snufkin who shows up often in the main books, and a lady called the Fillyjonk who is obsessed with cleaning. They all have hell-a issues, and work them out together over the autumn. It's a lot more abstract than the books usually are, and certainly more melancholy. I wish I could write like Tove Jansson- everything she writes has such a sense of wistfulness and yearning for something better that turns out to be right in front of you. She might be one of my favorite authors.
In other news, it's hot here, I'm almost ready to go home, and I feel like I'm not approaching my remaining finals with the right attitude, but I don't know what the right attitude is.