Metafiction, Myth and Language: A World in Words (and Pictures)

  While reading through N.K. Sandars' Prehistoric Art in Europe has so far been hugely stimulating, as previously posted, the above page in particular drew a number of things to my attention: considerations of different forms of representation, in this case, the geometric, even abstract, depiction of universality of form; but also the idea of finger-art, which may be the oldest form of sentient art imaginable, if we consider an appendage tracing hesitantly in sand, clay or snow - an action which is, in the poem, defined as the origin of the written form of the Rockcats' language, Sli'ith, and its cursive nature (which, visually, is suggestive of Arabic script): "Few men could write, but Rockcats long recorded words in their tongue, Sli'ith; and unlike rigid runes, their writing flowed in curling twists and tails, for once they wrote their words in sand, when on the coast of Kren they stood; a new-born people, elder tribe; those ancient days when all were one."

The title of the post refers to not only the various conflicting, nuanced or downright contradictory outcomes of specific events as narrated in the poem 'Saga', but of the final outcome of the work itself, as a material thing for August's assessment.  Initial thoughts are still pushing towards a physical, authoritative, printed object - in traditional hardbacked book binding - possibly via these UK-based online printers. Since beginning this blog, however, I've started to think of the options provided by hyperlinking, in an online or at least electronic format (e.g., embedded within a PDF document). An electronic PDF is every bit as 'locked' to the reader as a printed page, but I still feel lacks the physical sense of authority conveyed by the materials of hard binding, gold leaf embossing, and other attributes which tend to distinguish 'serious', classical and authoritative texts from 'popular' ones. (That isn't to suggest that I consider t

  As depicted above - this afternoon's exercise in trying to pin down the family tree and inter-familial relationship of the gods and the various progenitors. Some progress from my initial sketches of last year but still a fair few gaps remain: where does Ullek, the Rockcats' father (in truth, parent - since, according to Womba, Ullek can be 'both man and wife', much like Hretha) fit in? Nithmund, the rat-god, is still very vague (as perhaps such a grim character ought to be) and I have wondered if his role as guardian of decay, plague-bringer, gallows-friend and general king of corruption is not partly served also by Smorian, his step-daughter, who is queen of the dead and the underworld. But then, the roles of, say, Hekate and Hades are quite distinct and separate in Greek mythology and it occurs to me that Nithmund's function is one still rooted in the living world, with an effect upon those he touches: Smorian, on the other hand, is simply a harvester of souls,

    New addition to the ever-growing library arrived yesterday: The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature , primarily for J. D. Niles' often-cited essay Pagan Survivals and Popular Belief, which covers many areas of folklore in the Anglo-Saxon period, although the other contents look to be invaluable in terms of background research, also. One of the most exciting aspects of writing this epic poetic work - and developing its background and narrative themes - is its sheer dynamism and fluidity, where new research, interests and readings have been able to feed directly into its development and suggest new directions, stories, parallels, and reference points, especially those gathered through the Old English Texts  Semster 2 Humanities module. For example: The Ruin directly influenced the ubi sunt nature of the heroes' arrival in the land of the Ylfu, (the elf-like race who have lived in voluntary exile beneath the earth for countless generations), and exposed the illusor

(A change to today's planned post, since for some reason Blogger (Google) has chosen not to allow me to upload any images. Instead, some written reflections upon one of the themes during the main narrative - that of the land itself, not just specifically of the small, mythical nation 'Gyldland' of the title, but of all land everywhere - including ours.) The title of chapter XXIV, ‘The Visitors’, is a deliberate ploy: at first, as it is presented, a trio of hostile animal and bird-headed spirit-beings announce themselves to King Hodar’s camp at night in a blaze of baneful light, bearing dire warnings. Yet as the chapter concludes, it is clear who the real ‘visitors’ truly are – the heroes themselves, and by extension all sentient races, who have merely ‘lease’ upon the land which has been defended and guarded by these nature spirits ‘since day first dawned’. The lives of kings and heroes are temporal – the land is eternal, and so its guardians. While rather unfairly picking

 Following on from my earlier post , this was delivered earlier today (48 hour service!): NK Sandars - Prehistoric Art in Europe and after a lunchtime's worth of browsing, it has already pushed the visual side of this project in a whole new direction. Sanders' scholarship might be 60+ years old but it covers so much more than processes of dating and archaeological musings - the clue is in the title, and she addresses the ideas of these works as art in their own right as well, citing the likes of Gombrich on the way, as well as several detailed comparisons of prehistoric figuration to so-called 'civilised' Greek artistic forms. In terms of visual interest, a few beast/human hybrids caught my attention straight away: especially the 'sorceror' (beast-shaman?) figure at bottom right. This straightaway inspired a more 'primitive' rendering of this depiction of Hrefni, the raven storm-god: as this, re-imagined in a much earlier style: Herein the difference is

Having spent the last few months developing a distinctive 'native art form' for my mythical world, in which gods, mythical concepts and heroes are signified (rather than represented - following the Lévi-Strauss model of 'primitive art' whose aim is not imitation of the subject), a random bit of browsing overturned the notion of a unified art style . Schematics of the idol's multiple faces and design elements   The age and distinctive design work on this idol made me realise the importance of establishing an 'elder culture' which existed long before the present time in which the poem's narrative is set, in which the origins of the 'contemporary' forms could perhaps be traced. Having a single homogenous style of representation made me think of those old TV period dramas set in, say, Edwardian days, when all furniture, fashion and design featured is of that exact era - with nothing from the Victorian or Georgian periods still extant. Furniture, fab

What's this all about? Basically, the documentation of my 2021 final project for my MFAAH Master's degree. “Myth is a type of speech” (R. Barthes, 'Myth Today' in Mythologies ). If my work has a narrative, then it is one of narrative itself – sometimes multiple narratives, sometimes competing, unreliable, questioning, contradictory, and ambiguous. At times, meta-narratives; stories within stories, inside re-tellings of tales perhaps familiar or else new. And one of my most cherished kinds of ambiguous narrative is myth. Myth, as an oral body of knowledge initially, is therefore speech. And in written form, embedded, it is capable of being analysed, quoted, paraphrased, interpreted, mis-interpreted, bastardized and corrupted. The language I use to disclose my myth-makings are related, though separate; at once distant and unknowable, yet simultaneously tangible and everyday: English, and its antecedent, Old English – in which copious amounts of our modern English (and Sco