Tag: the Eddas

Friedrich August Moritz Retzsch, Faust and Mephisto Playing Chess, ca. 1825

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Part 2 of 3 (Part 1 here, Part 2 here)

III. Eating His Words: Renaissance Tricksters

Renaissance dramas were also a rich fount for stories/speech gone awry and ironic. (more…)

You can buy Collin Cleary’s Wagner’s Ring & the Germanic Tradition here.

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Collin Cleary
Wagner’s Ring and the Germanic Tradition
Wagnerphile Books, 2021

Richard Wagner is a cornerstone of Western culture. He is one of the few composers that still receive mainstream attention in the 21st century, but usually for negative reasons. Hacks can’t resist the temptation to bash him for his alleged proto-Nazism and anti-Semitism. Even if critics see him as a predecessor to Hitler, many of them still enjoy his music. Few doubt he was a great musician. (more…)

“Off with her head!” An original illustration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland (1864)

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The Sphinx-riddle. Solve it, or be torn to bits, is the decree.

— D. H. Lawrence

A question, readers: what is the most profound of all human activities? With the previous sentence, I’ve already provided the answer, for it is the question itself — the thing that drives all exploration and philosophy. How can philosophy (or any knowledge) exist without first the riddle, the profound need for the answer? (more…)