Abba
Stieg Larsson
Donald Hamilton, born in Sweden, set his second Matt Helm novel there
Norse mythology in its own right -
- and as incorporated into works by Anderson and Neil Gaiman
Wagner
Tolkien
"Pure 'Northernness' engulfed me: a vision of huge, clear spaces hanging above the Atlantic in the endless twilight of Northern summer, remoteness, severity..."
-CS Lewis, Surprised By Joy (London, 1964), V., p. 62.
Maybe Lewis says it for us. I am just getting into Donald Hamilton.
2 comments:
England has always had a rather ambivalent attitude to the "North". The English originally came from the area between Jutland and the Netherlands -- though with elements from further north. The East Anglian dynasty had strong Swedish links, frex.
After the Anglo-Saxons accepted Christianity, there was a partial reorientation to mainland Europe, but the Viking period ended with England effectively part of Scandinavia. Then the Norman Conquest -- ironically carried out by the descendants of Vikings settled in France -- made it part of the French cultural sphere for a long time...
That does explain why the Northern myths were eclipsed, then championed by William Morris.
Post a Comment