Here are the questions for weeks 1 - 3. Please use the comments section to post your answers. Do not make a new blog:
1. What genres do the following texts belong to?
Voluspa, Volsunga Saga, Beowulf, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
Give some examples from these texts that support your identification (for example: "Voluspa is an example of the _____ genre, as the following references to gods from the poem illustrate: "Hear my words / you holy gods' (l.1) "By Odin's Will I'll speak the ancient lore" (l.3), etc).
2. What are some possible features of residual (or "secondary") orality preserved in Voluspa, according to the criteria Ong (1982) advances?
3. Identify a central incident that happens in at least four of the above texts, and discuss how it is both similar and different in each example (remember to site from the original texts).
4. How did Tolkien draw on the Old Norse and Old English texts in his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fantasy novels? Provide some concrete examples.
5. Discuss how Tolkien's use of "tradition" (e.g. older literary sources) differs from the techniques and agendas of modernism (see Week 7 in your Reader).
6. What place do the old myths have in the modern world?
7. How does the film Beowulf and Grendel "problematise" the hero-myth of Beowulf ?
8. Discuss what you think any of these texts desire (in the sense of their intention, how they wish to be received, what pleasures they offer).
Voluspa, Volsunga Saga, Beowulf, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
Give some examples from these texts that support your identification (for example: "Voluspa is an example of the _____ genre, as the following references to gods from the poem illustrate: "Hear my words / you holy gods' (l.1) "By Odin's Will I'll speak the ancient lore" (l.3), etc).
2. What are some possible features of residual (or "secondary") orality preserved in Voluspa, according to the criteria Ong (1982) advances?
3. Identify a central incident that happens in at least four of the above texts, and discuss how it is both similar and different in each example (remember to site from the original texts).
4. How did Tolkien draw on the Old Norse and Old English texts in his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fantasy novels? Provide some concrete examples.
5. Discuss how Tolkien's use of "tradition" (e.g. older literary sources) differs from the techniques and agendas of modernism (see Week 7 in your Reader).
6. What place do the old myths have in the modern world?
7. How does the film Beowulf and Grendel "problematise" the hero-myth of Beowulf ?
8. Discuss what you think any of these texts desire (in the sense of their intention, how they wish to be received, what pleasures they offer).
Any ideas flowing yet?
ReplyDeleteAmidst any society, the myth is the oldest, most original form of storytelling. Though in the past the myth was used to impart long-established tales of antecedent history, of which often involved extraordinary events concerning beings not of this world, today the myth is acknowledged as having a much more extensive role, the most obvious being its able nature to supply the modern world with mythological stories for movies, games, and modern fantasy novels. Canadian author David Day, in his A-Z guide to the flora and fauna of middle-earth Tolkien Bestiary, writes, that the worlds mythologies “reveal a truer and fuller vision of the human mind and soul than all the historical, psychological and anthropological studies ever devised” (1995, p.6). It was Days fascination with Tolkien’s tales that lead to his strong interest in bestiary, an assemblage or compilation of depicted animals, both genuine in existence and fictitious in the real world. Preceding this, Tolkien, intrigued by the myths and legends behind the countries of the many languages by which he spoke, ardently leafed through all the old myths and legends he happened upon. Conceived as reconstructions of a lost English mythology are his stories of middle earth, which according to Day, are “the largest, most complex and detailed invented mythological system in our literature” (p.6).
ReplyDeleteAlbeit, not a myth if it’s believed to be true, these fictitious, often ancient stories invariably derive from some form of validity because it’s often impossible to fill gaps in knowledge that can’t be answered through experimentation and observation. Tolkien’s recently published Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary leads us to believe, according to Simon Cook, that Tolkien himself “saw his creative writing as a work of historical reconstruction” (2014, para.1), furthermore, in an article about Tolkien’s English mythology, Cook, an intellectual historian, describes the aforementioned authors work “as founding texts of modern fantasy” (para.1). Here fantasy is a modern genre used to describe a text with mythological elements, elements that Tolkien’s works, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion encompass, elves, dwarfs, trolls and all manner of other Germanic creatures. It’s essentially this work, as it became popular, that transported elements of mythology into what is today a mass-market of the modern fantasy genre. In essence, every modern fantasy novel today has drawn upon some element of Tolkien’s duplication of middle earth. Case in point, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld fiction comic fantasy book series. Though it characterises elves that are, more or less, callous supernatural beings, and dwarfs that are, for want of a better word “axes drawn” with not goblins but trolls, the series used Tolkien’s images to its advantage (Shippey, 2012).
References:
Cook, S. (2014). Tolkien’s English mythology. Retrieved March 12, 2015, from http://www.thehistoryvault.co.uk/tolkiens-english-mythology/
Day, D. (1995). A tolkien bestiary. New York, NY: Gramercy Books.
Shippey, T. (2012). The hobbit: What has made the book such an enduring success? The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9555838/The-Hobbit-What-has-made-the-book-such-an-enduring-success.html
I like the consideration of myth being realised in modern fantasy. However, I wonder, rather than myth only playing as a reference point and being reconstructed in modern times, if myth can hold a place in a wider modern context outside of this?
DeleteJust for reference, the above post is in response to question six: What place do old myths have in the modern world?
ReplyDeleteExcellent start. Tolkien had a theory of creativity he called 'Secondary Creation' which implied that he was somehow 'rewriting' a world already created. Perhaps he took his myths literally, as history.
ReplyDeleteHow much is history and how much is myth is a favourtite bone of contention among commentators.
Question One: What genres do the following texts belong to?
ReplyDeleteMy interpretation of the term genre, is an expression used to, more or less so, categorise composition. In this case, composition of the literary form. This classification, as such, was more arduous for me to determine then I initially expected because distinctions between genres and categories seem to be defined rather loosely.
Voluspa:
Voluspa is a poem by the complier of the Elder Edda, a gathering of mythic and spiritual verse, verse that holds a significant place in Nordic culture, literature and heritage. Commencing the initial section of the Eddic cycle, which Pritchard (1972) defines as “the mythological poems” (p.1), Voluspa also commences the Edda on the whole. Although Voluspa illustrates characteristics that classify it as belonging to a number of genres, Pritchard states that “any attempt to force the poem into rigid categories cannot succeed” (p.6). One such category under which the poem may be considered is that of the cosmogonic works, on the grounds that aspects of the poem deal with the legend surrounding the creation of gods, the earth, and the human race. Examples from the text to support this identification include references to the notion of creation in the third and fourth verses “Nothing was there when time began, neither sands nor seas nor cooling waves. Earth was not yet, nor the high heavens, but a gaping emptiness nowhere green. Then Bur’s sons lifted up the land and made Midgard, men’s fair dwelling; the sun shone out of the south, and bright grass grew from the ground of stone” (Terry, 1990, 1966, p.2). Moreover, mythological elements of the text manifest from the poems allusion to cardinal beings or gods “Hear my words, you holy gods; Then the holy gods met to give judgement, the holy gods took counsel together” (Terry, 1990, 1966, p.2).
References:
Pritchard, E. C. (1972). The voluspa: A commentary (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Full Text database. (UMI No. 7225654.)
Terry, P. (1990, 1966). Poems of the elder edda. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
A sensitive answer, Natasha. A very good one. I like the term cosomgonic to describe those texts with deal with the creation of the universe, mankind etc. That would place it alongside Genesis and the Hindu Ramayana.
DeleteGood general point Nicole. A new more examples from our texts would have strengthened your point.
ReplyDeleteQuestion One Continued: What genres do the following texts belong to?
ReplyDeleteVolsunga Saga:
Possibly not extraordinarily surprising given its name, but as it may be the Volsunga Saga is in fact defined within the saga genre, though, the genre in itself contains a number of recognised sub genres and designating Volsunga, the story of the Volsung family and it’s adventures, to just one of these was decidedly not as simple. Rowe (1993) in her journal article Generic Hybrids: Norwegian “Family” sagas and Icelandic “Mythic-Heroic” Sagas, defines the mythic-heroic saga, one of many identified divisions of saga, as “heroic adventure” set in “the known world, and mythological places” with characters that “are for the most part noble Scandinavians and Europeans, and supernatural beings” (p. 541). References from the text illustrate that the Volsunga Saga conforms to this type of saga above any other, other being a connotation for saga types such as contempt sagas and Norwegian family sagas. The slaying of Fafnir, son of dwarf king Hreidmar and brother of Regin, who after being affected by the curse of Andvari’s ring and gold, became a dragon, is evidence of “heroic adventure”, the scene, “So whenas the worm crept over the pits, Singurd thrust his sword under his left shoulder, so that it sank in up to the hilts…” (p. 9), is also testimony of a “supernatural being”, here “worm” refers to a large reptilian creature, generally with serpentine traits.
References:
Rowe, E. A. (1993). Norwegian “family” sagas and Icelandic “mythic-heroic” sagas. Scandinavian Studies, 65, (4), 539-554.
Morris, W. and Magnussun, E. (Trans.). (1888). The story of the volsungs (Volsunga saga). London: Walter Scott Press.
Excellent!
DeleteAlongside what you have already mentioned, I think generally speaking Voluspa’s desire, as such, in the sense of its intention, was to express or communicate information about the creation of the world, as you have mentioned of course, among other things, gods, humans, imaginary creatures and so on. Mike has mentioned that examples from the text would have strengthened your point and I think the small extract below is a good illustration from the text to support this perception that Odin and his brothers created the world and whatnot. Let me know what you think.
ReplyDelete“Then Bur’s sons lifted up the land and made Midgard, men’s fair dwelling; the sun shone out of the south, the bright grass grew from the ground of stone.” (p. 2).
References:
Terry, P. (1990, 1966). Poems of the elder edda. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Question 7. How does the film Beowulf and Grendel "problematise" the hero-myth of Beowulf ?
ReplyDeleteProblematize - Verb, Make into or regard as a problem requiring a solution:
In the Hero-Myth of Beowulf, the myth is mainly focused on Beowulf the hero. but the film 'Beowulf and Grendel' Grendel is depicted to be pitied as he has a sad childhood with his father killed by Hrothgar, king of Denmark. this can make the audience feel pity for Grendel and they can understand his motives.
In the film 'Beowulf and Grendel' there is no dragon after Beowulf defeats Grendel's mother, which therefore doesn't tell how Beowulf died and how he slayed the dragon. the reason for this could be because the film is still focused a lot on Grendel.
Wikipedia . Beowulf and Grendel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf_%26_Grendel
Wikipedia . Beowulf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf
Yes, and, importantly, the film shows Grendel and his family being displaced from their land by invaders, which further arouses our pity, and anger at those who invaded.
Delete1. What genres do the following texts belong to?
ReplyDeleteThe Voluspa
The Voluspa is a mythological poem. This story tells about the creation of earth. “Then the holy gods met to give judgement". with this quote it is easily distinctive as Mythological. Other quotes that show this are "They holy gods took counsel together: They named night and night’s children, gave names to morning and night afternoon and evening, ordered time by years.”
Beowulf
“A brave and noble character in an epic poem, admired for great achievements or affected by grand event.” this is the definition of an Epic poem. In Beowulf, Beowulf is a hero with brave to battle against monster, Grendel. He defeated the monster and save lives. i see that Beowulf is a hero from the passage. “I risked my life often when I was young. Now I am old, but as king of the people I shall pursue this fight for the glory of winning.”
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
Both are High fantasy novels and are very similar to each other since both include adventure, an imaginary world and imaginary creatures. Even if they are fantasy novels, each has focus for readers. Both are set in the same universe Hobbit is set up in the world that Dwarves are a major asset but The Lord of the Rings is set after the dwarves.
I admire how concise and to the point you've been here, Teol-Ling. You've obviously given examples from the texts to support your identification of their genres but where are your references?
DeleteYes, Natasha, no words wasted! But Voluspa is even easier. It is a saga!
DeleteWhat are some possible features of residual (or “secondary”) orality preserved in Voluspa, according to the criteria Ong (1982) advances?
ReplyDeleteOng (1982) describes secondary orality as an orality that exists soley due to writing and print. Such orality, Ong suggests, would include telephones, radio and television.
In Völuspá, the use of gaps in the writing suggests to the reader pauses and the rhythm of the song. Such reader directed cues could be understood as secondary orality since it is potentially prompting reading out loud via writing.
Other residual orality features in Völuspá would be the more explicit use of oral language in the text:
“Hear my words, you holy gods,
great men and humble sons of Heimdall:
by Odin’s will, I’ll speak the ancient lore,
the oldest of all I remember.”
From the opening of the text, you are given very explicit indications of this work being spoken or sung out loud.
Reference
Ong, W. (1982) Orality and Literacy: the technologizing of the word. London: Methuen. p.1-15
How did Tolkien draw on the Old Norse and Old English texts in his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fantasy novels? Provide some concrete examples.
ReplyDeleteIn the article ‘To Translate a Hero: The Hobbit as Beowulf Retold’ by J. A. Glenn (1991), the author looks at how Tolkien drew on Beowulf, not just for inspiration however, to re-understand the characteristics of the “hero”.
Glenn talks of Bilbo Baggins as being an alternative to Beowulf. Tolkien used Bilbo - the ‘Adventurer’, an alternative answer to the hero/leader as opposed to the Warrior we find in Beowulf. Glenn (1991) suggests that by:
“Using "structural quotations" from Beowulf and its analogue Hrólfssaga Kraka at key points in The Hobbit's plot, Tolkien creates in Bilbo Baggins his answer to the defects of a Beowulf…”.
If what I understand Glenn to be saying is correct, then Tolkien is drawing on these old texts – namely Beowulf – as a means to bring them into modernity and to re-imagine Beowulf.
The author also suggests Tolkien’s character ‘Beorn’ is influenced by Bothvar. Examples in which we can see this potential influence are Beorn’s focus on the truth of a story Gandalf, as well as the in the Five Armies episode, where Beorn’s involvement is to make the numbers fair against the side of evil (Glenn, 1991). These elements, Glenn suggests, show a drawing on Bothvar.
Refences
Glenn, J. A. (1991). "To Translate a Hero: The Hobbit as Beowulf Retold." PAPA 17: 13-34.
Good, John. Tolkien set out to revive these myths and legends so that they wouldn't die, so that our culture would remember them...
DeleteTolkien was inspired by the Norse mythological texts and its influence goes beyond the theme of a hero and a quest situation. Many of the character names that Tolkien used for his characters are inspired by the Norse language and also the world that the stories are told in, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, is named “Middle-earth”, which is “Midgard” in Norse (Zarins, 2003), one of the nine worlds that are part of the World Tree in Norse mythology (Vinson, n.d., ‘Strophe 2’ para. 3). Gimli who is a dwarf, receives his name from Völuspá, where it is the name of a hall in heaven “…fairer than the sun, thatched with gold…” (Terry, 1990). The wizard Gandalf’s name means “Staff-Elf” in the Norse language, Another character from The Lord of the Rings,
ReplyDeleteAccording to Zarins (2003), the character Gandalf is very similar to Odin. “The appearance of the two as cloaked old men which the cloaks conceals their mysterious power. They are very wise and guide other characters, they also use their magic to help destroy evil.”
References:
Terry, P. (trans). (1990, 1966). Poems of the Elder Edda. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Tolkien, J.R.R. (1993, 1954). The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. London, England: HarperCollins.
Zarins, K. (2003). Lords of the Rings: Tolkien, Wagner, and Norse Mythology. Calliope, 13(5), 46
Answer 8:
ReplyDeleteThe chosen book for the question of what its intended response, or desire that is to be projected onto the targeted audience, is in this case J.R.R.Tolkien's magnum opus, Lord of the Rings.
What seems to become apparent at first with the intention of the Lord of the Rings is that it is attempting (and effectively achieving) to create a complete new world full of its own rich mythology and creatures that inhabit it never normally seen in the ordinary world, which also happens to be very reminiscent of old Norse myths and Sagas as well as traditional British folklore, which was a tool of J.R.R. Tolkien to successfully immerse his readers into his radically different world with more ease, since common history and myths function as a clear form of identification, especially in a national context, which in Tolkien's case happens to be Britain. Bearing in mind that Tolkien was a WWI veteran and initial evidence points out that he had already started penning the initial ideas to what would eventually become his monumental fantasy epic trilogy entitled The Lord of the Rings back in the face of morbid trench warfare, then we could assume that it also desired to support people who have witnessed terrible things to find a stable mental refuge from all the inner turmoil, and an epic tale of heroism and cameraderie set in a different world could do just that. Yet there is more to it than first meets the eye.
Various people have argued that the fantasy book series are in fact a Christian allegory of the world and the events that lead people into war against each other. Certainly, parallels to Biblical characters and stories are undoubtedley present in Tolkien's work, with examples such as Saruman the White, a seemingly wise wizard who betrays the ones he was sworn to protect can clearly be seen as another version of the Judas character and the untimely death of Gandalf the Grey through his selfless sacrifice is definitely reminiscent of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Due to the fact that the Bible contains stories and characters of such universal proportions, it comes to no surprise that we can find similarities between the Bible and any other work of fiction.
The true intention of this book is far more simple and yet enormously more weighty than any other of the aforementioned potential messages between the lines of Lord of the Rings, namely the quest to instil inspiration into the hearts of those people during his time and, of course, those that come after him, posterity, which is what best-selling horror author Stephen King firmly believes, since this is exactly what happened to him after he first read Tolkien. This is a very romantic way of looking at the deeper message of Lord of the Rings, yet it aptly fits, because this is the apparent reaction that Tolkien spawned with his tales of Hobbits, Orcs, and others, namely to engage people's fantasy and creativity so that a more harmonious life could result for all. Lord of the Rings ranks among the top literal creations that keeps on captivating readers' minds and letting their imagination run wild.