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A review by the_weirdling
Beyond the North Wind: The Fall and Rise of the Mystic North by Christopher McIntosh
3.0
This is a strange, albeit informative, book. I don’t feel like I ever knew what to make of it. It is based on the mythic archetype of “the North“ and the way in which that archetype has been appropriated over the last few centuries, with special emphasis on recent history.
The book has a definite tendency to meander from one place to another. To be fair, I think this might be an unavoidable side effect of writing about any mythic archetype. Since archetypes are not confined by location or historical era, it is hard for most writers to stay focused on one at a time.
I also felt like I never fully grasp the perspective of the author. It is difficult to discern whether he believed the stories of “the north“ were fact, myth (in the non-pejorative sense), or something else. This was especially odd since it is clear he has a personal stake in the scholarship he represents here. He regularly refers to his participation in building up the Asatru movement in Iceland. He also seems to take an inordinate amount of time distancing any inherent connection between the Nordic mythos and anything that smacks of Nazism. For obvious reasons. Personally though, I felt like I got it the first ten times bleh pointed it out. I didn’t need to hear it three times a chapter.
The most valuable part of the book for me was as a sort of reading list. Much of the book recounts stars, writers, singers, poets, and historical figures connected with the myths and themes of “The North”. I got a very long reading list out of this book. That alone made it a pretty decent expenditure of my time.
The book has a definite tendency to meander from one place to another. To be fair, I think this might be an unavoidable side effect of writing about any mythic archetype. Since archetypes are not confined by location or historical era, it is hard for most writers to stay focused on one at a time.
I also felt like I never fully grasp the perspective of the author. It is difficult to discern whether he believed the stories of “the north“ were fact, myth (in the non-pejorative sense), or something else. This was especially odd since it is clear he has a personal stake in the scholarship he represents here. He regularly refers to his participation in building up the Asatru movement in Iceland. He also seems to take an inordinate amount of time distancing any inherent connection between the Nordic mythos and anything that smacks of Nazism. For obvious reasons. Personally though, I felt like I got it the first ten times bleh pointed it out. I didn’t need to hear it three times a chapter.
The most valuable part of the book for me was as a sort of reading list. Much of the book recounts stars, writers, singers, poets, and historical figures connected with the myths and themes of “The North”. I got a very long reading list out of this book. That alone made it a pretty decent expenditure of my time.