From Asgard to Valhalla: The Remarkable History of the Norse Myths [Hardcover]

Heather O'Donoghue (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 4, 2007

Whether it be Thor's powerful hammer, the mysterious valkyries, the palatial home of the gods - Asgard - or ravenous wolves and fierce elemental giants, the Norse myths are packed with vivid incident. This is the first book to show how the Norse myths have resonated from era to era: from Viking-age stories of ice and fire to the epic poetry of Beowulf; and from Wagner's Ring to Marvel Comics' Mighty Thor. Heather O'Donoghue considers the wider contexts of Norse mythology, including its origins, medieval expression and reception in post-medieval societies right up to the present. From Asgard to Valhalla is a book that will intrigue and delight anyone with an interest in how the Norse myths have so profoundly shaped the western cultural heritage.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The fascination of the myths is brought to life in the charting of some surprising trajectories: from eddic poems to the imagined sublime, from the runic futhark to rune-yodelling and Paul Muldoon, and from Snorri to Matthew Arnold and fantasy comics. Heather O'Donoghue offers a fresh treatment of it all and offers a welcome compendium of the literary (and political) reception of Old Norse mythology down to the present day."--Judy Quinn, University of Cambridge

 

"O’Donoghue writes fascinatingly about the perpetuity of the myths" – Peter Conrad, Observer

About the Author

Heather O'Donoghue is Reader in Old Norse in the University of Oxford and a Professorial Fellow of Linacre College. Her books include The Genesis of a Saga Narrative (1991), Old Norse Icelandic Literature: A Short Introduction (2004) and Skaldic Verse and the Poetics of a Saga Narrative (2005). An expert on Old Norse literature and myth, she has broadcast on the subject on national radio.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: I. B. Tauris; 1st Ed. edition (September 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1845113578
• ISBN-13: 978-1845113575
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,522,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but has some problems, January 10, 2010

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Christopher R. Travers "Einhverfr" (Chelan, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: From Asgard to Valhalla: The Remarkable History of the Norse Myths (Hardcover)

This book represents an attempt to trace the influence of Norse myth in popular and artistic culture from the Middle Ages until the present. Over all, I think the book is pretty good.

The first section of the book attempts to provide an overview of Norse myth and does a pretty good job, though the coverage is overly simplistic. The survey is not that of a mythologist but just an attempt to provide some sort of basic foundation for the rest of the book.

The second portion is an attempt to look at the influence of Norse myth on other areas of Western culture, with a special focus on the English-speaking world.

The first chapter looks at the influence of the Danelaw and Danish settlements in England and it provides a lot of very interesting food for thought.

Then we see a discussion of Romanic-era influences, followed by a chapter "The Rise of Racism." Here is where the book starts to go off course, subtly at first, and eventually with greater decisiveness. In particular the tendency to see von List as being a racist (when his writings and actions were clear that he was in favor of tribalism and insisting that all peoples should look to their own roots, additionally supporting efforts by some in the Jewish community to further Kabbalistic studies) is the beginning of the end of a reasonably objective overview.

From here, the tendency to confuse tribalism with racism, and racism with nationalism continues to snowball. The descriptions of Asatru, Forn Sed, etc. are tainted by this confusion. I will admit that Norse Paganism has its problem folk (not just racists either), but the inability to explore the inner logic regarding these groups is somewhat troubling. For example, there is an active debate within the greater Asatru community whether heritage comes primarily from DNA or from one's first language (I am in the latter camp by the way).

One more big disappointment worth mentioning but not the author's fault (and hence not part of the rating): The hardback book's binding is rather shoddy as hardback books go. The pages are not bound in signatures, but glued into the binding singly as one would expect from a trade paperback. For this reason I highly recommend avoiding the hard bound version and betting the paperback instead.

On the whole I would recommend this book, but would also recommend that it be read critically.

18 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Ever-changing Face of the Northern Mythos, January 29, 2009

By 

Ned "Heretical Heathen" (Middengeard) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Asgard to Valhalla: The Remarkable History of the Norse Myths (Paperback)

From Asgard to Valhalla is an intriguing survey of the history of Norse mythology and its impact on culture, history, politics, literature and art from the early middle ages to modern day. O'Donoghue traces the mythology from the history of its creation and preservation to its later employment by the early romantic movement, its politicization by nationalist, racist and fascist movements, and its imaginative manifestation in modern culture, literature and art. She does an excellent job of summing up Norse mythology for those unfamiliar with it and, for the most part, writes in an engaging and entertaining style. Especially delightful (with one major exception, detailed below) is Chapter 8 where she covers creative representations of the myths in modern culture, tracing its influence on modern poets, heavy-metal musicians and science-fiction and fantasy writers.

However there are two things which mar this otherwise well done study. First is the rushed feeling of the text. Some of the subjects she touches upon could have used a bit more treatment. This is, of course, inevitable in a survey of this sort, but weighing in as it does at 200 pages of large type, further development here and there would not seem excessive. In addition, at times her asides become the main subject and the original subject is lost and never followed up upon. I don't know if this text was part of some tenure track necessity, but some more development and editing would probably have made a good text a better one.

The second and most troubling aspect of the book is O'Donoghue's simplistic treatment of the neopagan movement inspired by Germanic culture, Heathenry, of which this reviewer, after a fashion, counts himself as a member. The problem stems from the author's failure to properly distinguish between racism, nationalism, heritage and ancestry. These concepts are certainly related, but they are not synonymous. O'Donoghue, however, juxtaposes them in ways which, at times, makes them indistinguishable. For instance she claims that "groups such as Wotansvolk, Odinic Rite, Asatru and Forn Sed, while being very different in their beliefs and presentations, are all based on some sort of Nordic or Germanic nationalism." Since Germanic culture spanned across a wide swath of Northern Europe and predates the modern nations on the map, how can an interest in this culture be considered "nationalism"? I am proud of my English ancestry, but this does not necessarily make me an advocate for the nation of England, its current politics, or its imperial past. Nationally speaking, I am an American, and I am proud of that, too, though not uncritical of my own country when I feel it has done wrong. Perhaps the most telling confusion in this part of the book is when O'Donoghue states "to go back to 'the old ways' (a literal translation of the Swedish name Forn Sed) or to worship the Aesir (Asatru means 'of the faith of the Aesir') is to reconnect with one's supposed ancestral origins -- or race." Now, I happen to agree with O'Donoghue when she reminds us that "race" is not a scientific fact but an "ideological construct," however a person's heritage and culture are a question of history, certainly not untouched by ideology, and pride in one's cultural background and a wish to honor it is not the same thing as belief in race or racism. After a wonderfully complex look at the threads of Nordic culture, romanticism, racism and fascism in English and German history, O'Donoghue glosses over modern heathenry's complex issues of identity, heritage, culture, race, faith, and theology, and presents a rather simplistic portrait of modern heathens that falls just short of characterizing us as racist crack-pots. She also portrays "anti-Christian" elements in the heathen community as a form of racism, completely ignoring the possibility that these elements may have more to to do with fascinating phenomenon of the rise of polytheism in opposition to monotheism in postmodern psychology and theology. She concludes her treatment of this subject with the absurd idea that modern heathenism is largely inspired by the legitimate and fraudulent "Nordic" archaeological finds in America. The riduculousness of this claim does not even deserve a reply.

This glaring faux pas aside, I would recommend this text to fellow heathens. It reminds us of the romanticism and unsavory ideology and politics which are a part of the history of our path, and against which we must be continuously vigilant, as well as the origins of the spurious occultism woven through the understanding of the runes presented in many modern texts.

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Pleasure to Read, July 29, 2007

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RA Meeks "ra meeks" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: From Asgard to Valhalla: The Remarkable History of the Norse Myths (Hardcover)

O'Donoghue's books is a wonderful guide to the history/lore of Northern Mythology. Whether this is your chosen path, or whether you'r simply interested in this branch of mythology, Heather works with the sources and, though expressly not a believer, she makes it coherent and interesting and understandable without being simplistic or just another New Age book. This is clearly an academic book in the hands of someone who makes it into the interestesting and unique stories that constitute Norse mythology. Other than her one line that no one worships or believes in these guides any longer (not true, O'Donoghue!), this is an exceptional work, as an introduction or for those well-versed.