A second reason is an aversion to medieval-fantasy material that is ludicrously inauthentic when compared with real history and genuine mythology and legend. I’ve no problem with the Arthurian legends because they arise from a bona fide cultural impulse. As an Irishman of a certain age, I could talk to you till your eyes fell out about the magic of An Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid at Cooley), the central story of the Ulster cycle of legends. It’s about an attempt to steal a particularity fertile bull. But it teems with warriors and magicians, dominated by the god-like warrior Cú Chulainn. There are even ravens swirling in the mist. It shares much with Game of Thrones in surface detail but there’s a powerful, authentic poignancy to An Táin, and a rawness to the action, the work of many hands and storytellers, generation after generation. In comparison, Game of Thrones is slick and contrived.
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This announcement speaks for itself: Dear Colleagues, After two decades teaching medieval art history and doing photography for my own use,...
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From the Guardian: Leading foreign academics from the LSE acting as expert advisers to the UK government were told they would not be asked ...
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A new translation of this fascinating treatise on horsemanship by a fifteenth-century king. This interview with Jeffrey Forgeng comes from...
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This announcement speaks for itself: Dear Colleagues, After two decades teaching medieval art history and doing photography for my own use,...
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From the Guardian: Leading foreign academics from the LSE acting as expert advisers to the UK government were told they would not be asked ...
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A new translation of this fascinating treatise on horsemanship by a fifteenth-century king. This interview with Jeffrey Forgeng comes from...
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Byron York talks to dedicated, long-time Romney supporters right after the concession speech: A few hours earlier, across the street at the...
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I have always loved maps and history. Growing up in the USA in the early 60s, the Southeast Asian war gave me the opportunity to learn geog...
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I just discovered this book, which came out a couple of years ago, thanks to Brad DeLong, who provided a link to a pre-print to chapter 9, ...
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I have been reading the magazine Foreign Policy recently, and despite the fact that is understandably American-centric, it does tend to take...
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