All the sagas in one place

Visit Saganet for a complete (Norse and English) searchable compilation of all the pre-13th century Icelandic sagas.

The material consists of the entire range of Icelandic family sagas. It also includes a very large portion of Germanic/Nordic mythology (the Eddas), the history of Norwegian kings, contemporary sagas and tales from the European age of chivalry. A great number of manuscripts contain Icelandic ballads, poetry or epigrams. These Collections are kept in The National and University Library of Iceland, The ?rni Magn?sson Institute in Iceland and in the Fiske Icelandic Collection at Cornell University. All manuscripts, on vellum and paper, and printed editions and translations of the Sagas as well as relevant critical studies published before 1900 are included and available through the Internet.

And it’s amazing. (With thanks to Languagehat.)

All the sagas in one place

Visit Saganet for a complete (Norse and English) searchable compilation of all the pre-13th century Icelandic sagas.

The material consists of the entire range of Icelandic family sagas. It also includes a very large portion of Germanic/Nordic mythology (the Eddas), the history of Norwegian kings, contemporary sagas and tales from the European age of chivalry. A great number of manuscripts contain Icelandic ballads, poetry or epigrams. These Collections are kept in The National and University Library of Iceland, The ?rni Magn?sson Institute in Iceland and in the Fiske Icelandic Collection at Cornell University. All manuscripts, on vellum and paper, and printed editions and translations of the Sagas as well as relevant critical studies published before 1900 are included and available through the Internet.

And it’s amazing. (With thanks to Languagehat.)

All the sagas in one place

Visit Saganet for a complete (Norse and English) searchable compilation of all the pre-13th century Icelandic sagas.

The material consists of the entire range of Icelandic family sagas. It also includes a very large portion of Germanic/Nordic mythology (the Eddas), the history of Norwegian kings, contemporary sagas and tales from the European age of chivalry. A great number of manuscripts contain Icelandic ballads, poetry or epigrams. These Collections are kept in The National and University Library of Iceland, The ?rni Magn?sson Institute in Iceland and in the Fiske Icelandic Collection at Cornell University. All manuscripts, on vellum and paper, and printed editions and translations of the Sagas as well as relevant critical studies published before 1900 are included and available through the Internet.

And it’s amazing. (With thanks to Languagehat.)

All the sagas in one place

Visit Saganet for a complete (Norse and English) searchable compilation of all the pre-13th century Icelandic sagas.

The material consists of the entire range of Icelandic family sagas. It also includes a very large portion of Germanic/Nordic mythology (the Eddas), the history of Norwegian kings, contemporary sagas and tales from the European age of chivalry. A great number of manuscripts contain Icelandic ballads, poetry or epigrams. These Collections are kept in The National and University Library of Iceland, The ?rni Magn?sson Institute in Iceland and in the Fiske Icelandic Collection at Cornell University. All manuscripts, on vellum and paper, and printed editions and translations of the Sagas as well as relevant critical studies published before 1900 are included and available through the Internet.

And it’s amazing. (With thanks to Languagehat.)

Cougars in Cornwall

Reports of out-of-place large cats in Britain are most common in the the southwest, says the BBC.

When I hear the word ‘transgressive,’ I cock my Browning*

University Diaries has a great entry (18 April) on a tempest in a creative-writing teapot at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University.

What caught my attention was her reference to Paul Fussell’s book Class. Although he later claimed, perhaps disingenously, that he wrote the book as a joke, it remains one of few accessible studies of a social issue that is more taboo to discuss in America than are fantasies of being a serial killer.

* from a line by the German playwright Hanns Johst, “Wenn ich Kultur h?re … entsichere ich meinen Browning,” often wrongly attributed to Air Marshall Goering of the Third Reich and translated as “When I hear the word Culture, I reach for my revolver.”

(As some of my regular readers know, John Browning [1855-1926] is more known for designing the 1911 Colt .45 automatic pistol.)

When I hear the word ‘transgressive,’ I cock my Browning*

University Diaries has a great entry (18 April) on a tempest in a creative-writing teapot at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University.

What caught my attention was her reference to Paul Fussell’s book Class. Although he later claimed, perhaps disingenously, that he wrote the book as a joke, it remains one of few accessible studies of a social issue that is more taboo to discuss in America than are fantasies of being a serial killer.

* from a line by the German playwright Hanns Johst, “Wenn ich Kultur h?re … entsichere ich meinen Browning,” often wrongly attributed to Air Marshall Goering of the Third Reich and translated as “When I hear the word Culture, I reach for my revolver.”

(As some of my regular readers know, John Browning [1855-1926] is more known for designing the 1911 Colt .45 automatic pistol.)

When I hear the word ‘transgressive,’ I cock my Browning*

University Diaries has a great entry (18 April) on a tempest in a creative-writing teapot at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University.

What caught my attention was her reference to Paul Fussell’s book Class. Although he later claimed, perhaps disingenously, that he wrote the book as a joke, it remains one of few accessible studies of a social issue that is more taboo to discuss in America than are fantasies of being a serial killer.

* from a line by the German playwright Hanns Johst, “Wenn ich Kultur h?re … entsichere ich meinen Browning,” often wrongly attributed to Air Marshall Goering of the Third Reich and translated as “When I hear the word Culture, I reach for my revolver.”

(As some of my regular readers know, John Browning [1855-1926] is more known for designing the 1911 Colt .45 automatic pistol.)

When I hear the word ‘transgressive,’ I cock my Browning*

University Diaries has a great entry (18 April) on a tempest in a creative-writing teapot at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University.

What caught my attention was her reference to Paul Fussell’s book Class. Although he later claimed, perhaps disingenously, that he wrote the book as a joke, it remains one of few accessible studies of a social issue that is more taboo to discuss in America than are fantasies of being a serial killer.

* from a line by the German playwright Hanns Johst, “Wenn ich Kultur h?re … entsichere ich meinen Browning,” often wrongly attributed to Air Marshall Goering of the Third Reich and translated as “When I hear the word Culture, I reach for my revolver.”

(As some of my regular readers know, John Browning [1855-1926] is more known for designing the 1911 Colt .45 automatic pistol.)

Dealing with evangelicals

About ten days ago, while I was working at home (revising the book), the notorious M.C. took the dogs for a walk in the woods, leaving me without my first line of defense. As I was pouring a cup of tea in the kitchen, someone knocked at the front door — and it did not sound like her characteristic knock.

I went to the door. There were two of them: men, thirty-ish, dressed “cowboy formal,” each clutching leather-bound Bibles, the King James Version, no doubt. Their shiny, well-muffled sport-utility vehicle had crept up the gravel driveway, and I, back in my study, had not heard it.

I opened the door, polite guy that I am. I forget now what my visitor said, but his purpose was clear. “You’ve come to the wrong house,” I replied. No terribly witty, but it worked; they said goodbye and left.

Encounter number two was by email, from an evangelical Canadian professor whom I know just slightly from the American Academy of Religion’s “new religious movements” group. He wrote to say that he was working on a book on NRMs for Thomas Nelson, a Christian publisher.

I do not question that he is a legitimate scholar, not at all, but his phrasing was unfortunate: “I was wondering if you could send me a list of the 25 most influential witches in modern times.”

In the context, it was a legitimate question, but it hit me all wrong. It was too much like, “Give him another jolt, Boris. He’ll crack and tell us who his associates are.”

The correct response would be, “Witches? That’s a lot of silliness. There are no witches.” (see Gerald Gardner’s Craft Laws, nos. 131-132 in Lady Sheba’s version — but those in the linked document are not numbered).

But, too polite to do that either, I suggested several good reference books, such as the Rabinovitch and Lewis Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism.