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Landscape and Myth in North-Western Europe ed. by Matthias Egeler (review)
Parergon Pub Date : 2020-12-28 , DOI: 10.1353/pgn.2020.0086
Jay Johnston

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Reviewed by:

  • Landscape and Myth in North-Western Europe ed. by Matthias Egeler
  • Jay Johnston
Egeler, Matthias, ed., Landscape and Myth in North-Western Europe (Borders, Boundaries, Landscape), Turnhout, Brepols, 2019; hardback; pp. viii, 263; 18 b/w illustrations, 3 b/w tables R R.P. €70.00; ISBN 9782503580401.

An edited collection of twelve chapters plus introduction, this volume is the second published in the relatively new and promising series, Borders, Boundaries, Landscape, edited by Eleanor R. Barraclough (it follows Savborg and Bek-Pederson, eds, Spiritual Encounters in Old Norse Literature and Tradition, 2018). [End Page 203] As is common with edited collections, the standard of scholarship is variable. So too, the remit, focus, and length of individual chapters. Like a gift box of Christmas chocolates, there are insightful, perfectly formed delights to be savoured, and a few faux pineapple flavours with distinctly less appeal. Between the satisfying and the fruity, sublime range a host of agreeable, if not entirely edifying, fare. Despite the editor’s best intentions there is limited dialogue between the chapters: each remains a sweet unto itself.

As the title appropriately signposts, three themes ostensibly draw these chapters together: myth, landscape, and the region of ‘north-western Europe’. Matthias Egeler works hard in the Introduction to provide a cohesive narrative to link these themes with the collected chapters. At a superficial level, there is no doubt that each does have as its focus an aspect of myth and landscape from the denoted region. However, this surface level is simply not enough upon which to build critical incursions in the field. Myth and landscape are delightfully troubling terms: they are not universal or self-evident concepts. Egeler makes this entirely apparent in his useful Introduction, which canvasses many of the interpretations and critical applications of both terms. I would advise that this is an introduction not to be skipped and I commend his choice of topic/s and spirit of interdisciplinary engagement. Nonetheless, the degree to which individual authors engaged critically with these conceptual lynchpins varies greatly. This is not simply the case of differing interpretation and application of key concepts— that is a delight of the themed collection form—but rather, an inconsistency in the acknowledgment of the unstable meaning of key terms from chapter to chapter. Similarly, another dominant theme that ran untroubled through many chapters was that of wild vs domestic/cultured place and the boundaries which maintain such distinctions. Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, in her analysis of hilltop cairns as boundary monuments (Chapter 6), does subject the concept of wilderness to critical scrutiny, but for many others such designations were deployed as ‘given’. Many opportunities were missed for teasing out and problematizing key categories and their construction.

The most problematic conceptual issue in the volume is also the source of its great richness: myth. This not only pertains to what the term encompasses for individual authors, but the way in which it appears to invite forms of universal speculation. There are moments of this less robust association in the volume, for example, in cases where very detailed and specific analysis of text or vernacular beliefs about a specific location are suddenly designated as correlates with traditions from cultures and times vastly different. These ‘other’ cultural examples often deployed as short ‘tab-on’ at chapter end. Most only undermine the rigour of the preceding analysis. The erasure of cultural difference in this style of associated mapping is of significant ethical concern.

Egler structures the volume in two sections: (i) Myth and Real-World Landscapes, and (ii) Myth and Landscapes of Literature. This organization is not seamless; given their content, many chapters could slip over the designated section [End Page 204] borders. Indeed, most of the case studies could usefully disrupt the maintenance of the binary between ‘real’ and ‘literary’ landscapes and/or ‘real’ and ‘folk-belief’ inscribed places. Highlights of the first section include Terry Gunnell’s exploration of ‘sitting out’ as ritual practice for obtaining ‘mystical knowledge’ in relation to grave mounds, particularly a pre-Christian mound from Litlu-Ketilsstaðir (northwest Iceland); Egeler’s own chapter on the place-lore of Hvandalur Valler (northern Iceland) and Fitzpatrick’s exploration of ‘Finn’s Wilderness...



中文翻译:

西北欧的景观与神话ed。由Matthias Egeler撰写(评论)

代替摘要,这里是内容的简要摘录:

审核人:

  • 西北欧的景观与神话ed。通过Matthias Egeler
  • 杰伊·约翰斯顿(Jay Johnston)
埃格尔(Egeler),马蒂亚斯(Matthias)主编,《西北欧洲的风景与神话(边界,边界,风景)》,蒂伦豪特,布雷波尔,2019年; 精装; 第iii页,263;黑白插图18幅,黑白桌子3色建议零售价€70.00; ISBN 9782503580401。

这本书是一本由十二章加上序言组成的编辑集,是由Eleanor R. Barraclough编辑(相对于Savborg和Bek-Pederson,eds,《旧时代的精神相遇》)相对较新,很有前途的系列的第二卷。北欧文学与传统,2018年)。[结束页203]与编辑的收藏一样,奖学金的标准是可变的。同样,各章的职权范围,重点和篇幅也是如此。就像一盒礼品盒的圣诞巧克力一样,有独到的见识,造型完美的美食可供品尝,还有一些人造菠萝口味,但吸引力却明显降低。在令人满意的和富有果味的崇高之间,有一系列令人愉快的(即使不是完全令人陶醉的)票价。尽管编辑有最好的意图,但各章之间的对话有限:每章对自己来说仍然是一种甜蜜的感觉。

作为标题的适当路标,三个主题表面上将这些章节归纳在一起:神话,风景和“西北欧洲”区域。Matthias Egeler在导言中努力工作,以提供凝聚力的叙述,以将这些主题与所收集的章节联系起来。从表面上看,毫无疑问,每个人的确都着眼于所述地区的神话和风景方面。但是,这个表面高度根本不足以在野外建立关键的入侵。神话和风景是令人不安的令人讨厌的术语:它们不是普遍的或不言而喻的概念。埃格尔(Egeler)在其有用的导言中对此作了充分的介绍,该导论概述了这两个术语的许多解释和关键应用。我建议这是一个介绍,不容忽视,我赞扬他对主题和跨学科交往精神的选择。但是,个别作者批判性地参与这些概念性关键因素的程度差异很大。这不仅是对关键概念的不同解释和应用的情况(这是主题收集形式的一种乐趣),而且还在于对关键术语的不稳定含义在各章之间的理解上的不一致。同样,贯穿许多章节的另一个主要主题是野生与家养/养殖地以及保持这种区别的界限。伊丽莎白·菲茨帕特里克(Elizabeth Fitzpatrick)在分析山顶石棺作为边界遗迹时(第6章)确实对荒野的概念进行了严格的审查,但是对于许多其他人,这样的名称被称为“给定”。错过了许多机会,可以对关键类别及其结构进行挑逗和问题化。

本书中最成问题的概念问题也是其丰富性的源泉:神话。这不仅涉及该术语对单个作者的涵义,而且还涉及邀请普遍投机形式的方式。在某些情况下,这种关联有时会变得不那么稳健,例如,当突然将对特定位置的文本或白话信仰的非常详细和特定的分析突然指定为与文化传统和时代相差悬殊时,便会产生关联。这些“其他”文化示例通常在本章结尾时用作简短的“附加内容”。大多数仅破坏了前面分析的严格性。消除这种关联映射样式中的文化差异具有重大的伦理意义。

埃格勒将本书分为两部分:(i)神话与现实世界的风景,以及(ii)神话与文学的风景。这个组织不是无缝的。鉴于其内容,许多章节可能会超出[End Page 204]指定部分的边界。确实,大多数案例研究都可以有效地破坏“真实”和“文学”景观和/或“真实”和“民间信仰”刻画场所之间的二元关系的维持。第一部分的重点包括特里·冈内尔(Terry Gunnell)探索“坐下来”作为获得与坟冢有关的“神秘知识”的仪式习俗,尤其是来自Litlu-Ketilsstaðir(西北冰岛)的基督教前坟丘;埃格尔(Egeler)关于Hvandalur Valler遗产的章节 (冰岛北部)和费兹帕特里克(Fitzpatrick)对“芬恩的荒野”的探索...

更新日期:2020-12-28
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