5/2/2023 0 Comments Jacksonville mighty vikings![]() "Seldom has anything been surrounded by so much myth and fantasy" as the Viking ship, notes Gunilla Larsson whose 2007 Ph.D. ![]() Early scholars were convinced, too: A drawing of dozens of men attempting to roll a mighty ship on loose logs illustrates the eastern voyages in the classic compendium The Viking from 1966. This, say experimental archaeologists, is "unproven," "improbable," and-after several tries with replica ships-"not possible."īut Bengtsson's fiction burned itself into popular memory. To cross the many portages between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, Red Orm's "cheerful crew" threw great logs in front of the prow and hauled the boat along these rollers "in exchange for swigs of 'dragging beer,'" Bengtsson wrote. Based on the Oseberg ship's 15 pairs of oars or the Gokstad ship's 16, such a mighty vessel would stretch nearly 100 feet long and weigh 16 to 18 tons, empty. Part of the story takes place on the East Way, which the red-haired Orm travels in a lapstrake ship with 24 pairs of oars. His story, Rode Orm, is one of the most-read and most-loved books in Swedish, and has been translated into over twenty languages in English it's The Long Ships. His effect on that Viking heritage, however, was not benign. "Bengtsson in effect throws the Viking heritage back in the Nazis' face." "When encountering a Jew who allies with the Vikings and leads them to treasure beyond their dreams, they are duly grateful," notes one critic. His Vikings are common men, smart, witty, and open-minded. But for this story he tried a new genre, the historical novel, and a new period of time. Bengtsson began writing "a story that people could enjoy reading, like The Three Musketeers or the Odyssey."īengtsson had made his literary reputation with the biography of an 18th-century king. In the midst of World War II, with the Nazis extolling their Viking heritage, the Swedish writer Frans G.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |