Today's bibliography of our judging books, Epic Continent, is from the British travel writer Nicholas Jubber.
In European history, heroic epics have a special place, playing an important role in the identity of the nation-state and in the connection between history and reality. British award-winning travel writer Nicholas Juber travels from the warm Greek islands to cold Iceland, delving into the epic birthplace, talking to heroes from Odyssey, The Song of Roland, Song of nibelungen, Beowulf and NyalSagar, and seeing how epics shape Europe.
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Bibliography of this issue
Epic Continent
Author: Nicholas Juber
Translators: Ma Zemin, Tan Nianqiong
Edition: Zhejiang People's Publishing House, February 2022
About the Author:
Nicholas Jubber, a British travel writer who graduated from Oxford University, has traveled to the Middle East and East Africa for many years. He has a strong interest in the human history of Europe, especially heroic epics. His works include The Timbuktu School for Nomads, The Prester Quest (which won the Dorman Prize for Best Travel Literature), and Drinking Arak off an Ayatollah's Beard (nominated for the Dorman Prize for Best Travel Literature). He is also a frequent contributor to The Guardian.
Translator's Bio:
Ma Zemin, born in 1978, is a native of Mianyang, Sichuan. He holds a bachelor's and master's degree from Tianjin Normal University, a ph.D. from Chinese Min University, a postdoctoral fellow at Sichuan University, and is currently an associate professor at Mianyang Normal University. He is mainly engaged in the teaching and research of world ancient history, medieval history, historical theory and foreign historiography, and has published more than 20 academic articles.
Tan Nianqiong, born in 1985, is a native of Deyang, Sichuan. He holds a bachelor's degree in English from Peking University and a master's degree in business administration from Sichuan University. Grade 8 in English, Grade 2 Translator of National Translation Professional Qualification (CATTI), has many years of experience in industrial and commercial enterprises, and is good at translating books on history, culture, and business management.
What kind of book is this?
Odyssey, Song of Roland, Song of nibelungen, Beowulf, Nyal Saga... Discover five classic epics, spanning more than a dozen countries and following epic heroes on an adventure!
This book mainly tells the story of the author's travel adventures on the European continent following in the footsteps of epic heroes. In European history, heroic epics have a special place, playing an important role in the identity of the nation-state and in the connection between history and reality. In the book, the author explores five great epics, namely: the Odyssey, the Song of Roland, the Song of the Nibelungen, the Beowulf, and the Nyal Saga. The author travels from the warm Greek island to the cold Iceland, traveling throughout the European continent. He goes deep into the place where the epic story takes place, deeply feels the local natural environment and human history, through this book, we can understand how the times shape the epic, and how the epic affects the times.
Why is it appealing?
The magnificent epic, the beautiful natural scenery, and the human history of the European continent have never gone away, and the epic story is still playing out all around us... Britain's award-winning travel writers delve into the epic story, dialogue with heroic characters, and see how epics shape Europe!
These epics are classic stories about human nature and a window into the history and culture of the European continent. The humanist sentiments in the book and the discussion of the relationship between history and reality, epic and era, are also thought-provoking. The fate of the small individual wrapped in the torrent of the times is also profoundly exposed, reflecting the author's humanistic feelings.
A very beautiful work of travel literature. The author's inner world is very interesting, the language of the manuscript is delicate and beautiful, and those strange stories read as if they have experienced it themselves, which is very infectious.
Epic Continent (Trial Reading)
preface
It is always said that epics are nothing more than ancient legends that took place in distant times. But in recent years, as I have learned more about European epics, I have come to realize that epic stories actually happen all around us. It's as real and timely as a news report, reflecting a variety of people's variety; as wonderful and unforgettable as a box office movie; as delicate and fascinating as a traveling poet's story.
The book was inspired by a road trip through Europe. During that time, when my wife was on maternity leave, I was writing a book, and we had no reason not to go — as my wife put it — "have fun for a few months." And when the summer vacation is over, our eldest son will start school, and it will not be so convenient to travel again. During the trip, we experienced one small "disaster" after another. Over the course of four months, we traveled through seven countries, either rubbing up at relatives and friends' homes or booking homestays on websites. On the muddy roads of Sardinia, our car had broken tires and had to look around for a master mechanic; on the ferry to Sicily, because I was careless and forgot to put my baby in the child seat, we spent most of our time in the ward. But things are not too bad: the children (individually) are bouncing around, there is still talk and laughter between the family (the husband and wife, the parent-child relationship has not yet broken), and our ten-year-old Peugeot 206 car can still drive normally.
It was a time away from the hustle and bustle, the years were quiet, and the children's eyes were full of joy and excitement to explore the history of Europe. In Nuremberg, Germany, we visited one of the best toy museums in Europe, where we screamed with excitement about the collection of model trains, followed by a visit to the site of the Nazi rally, which made us look solemn and heavy. In the Greek coastal city of Syracuse, we took a walk in the ancient Greek amphitheater and then watched a puppet show. Occasionally, some worrying issues can also break the warm bubble of family travel and make us feel depressed. For example, racist graffiti in Hanover, Germany, the plea for help from African immigrants in Sardinia, and so on. However, our attention soon shifted to the children's dirty diapers and knee bruises. No amount of worrying headlines can stop us from indulging in the adventures of The Undersea Column and marveling at the ingenious woodwork of German kindergartens.
That summer, I loved Europe so deeply: the deep blue Mediterranean Sea was like a soft blanket that wrapped our feet in it; the bright sun lazily sprinkled on the beach, and the gray pine forest took on a beautiful golden green. We also had the privilege of experiencing many ancient rituals. Sicilian wives gently stroked the feet of their youngest son and the blond hair of their eldest son, then drew a cross on their chest to bless the children; graduates of the University of Göttingen in Germany rushed to kiss the bronze lips of the statue of the shepherd girl to celebrate their successful degree. Refreshing coffee, silky and creamy ice cream, large glasses of beer... Even if the grilled sausage doesn't taste as good as before, what does it matter?
But on the way home, my wife and I talked a little heavy. We talked a lot, such as identitypolitics becoming a tool for some groups to pursue political gain; politicians repeating historical terms like "Anglo-Saxon" and old concepts like "sovereignty" over and over again in order to win more votes; politicians also distilling tactics from Sun Tzu's Art of War and the fringe politics of Iron-Blooded Chancellor Bismarck, through Facebook and YouTube (also known as "YouTube"). The website publishes divisive remarks.
When we reached the Alps in Bavaria, we heard the news that Britain had voted to end its 42-year-old political alliance with the European continent. On the carriage bound for Neuschwanstein Castle, I talked to a nice-looking local next to me. He said excitedly, "You have made a big mistake. Then he slid his finger over the Screen of his IPhone, showing me that the pound was falling like free fall. Neuschwanstein Castle was built by the 19th-century aestheticist and "madman" King Ludwig II, claiming to bring together the most romantic elements in the world. However, we didn't have the heart to explore. My wife's purse was lost in the carriage, and I was in a daze, with the words "crazy" and "stupid" bouncing around in my head. Fortunately, there are still people in our family in the state.
"Daddy," cried his three-year-old son, "look, there's a dragon!" ”
Following the direction of his fingers, my gaze crossed the arch and landed on a beast with scales and a curly tail. It is a mural. The knight in golden armor raised his sword and pierced the beast's chest. The knight's gaze swept over, and I smiled and looked back at him.
At this moment, the inspiration suddenly appeared.
The knight in the fresco is called Siegfried, also known as Sieged, a figure from the legend of the medieval Nibelungen. There are several versions of his story. A few weeks ago, I had just read The Song of the Nibelungen, written in the 12th century. The fresco my son saw was created in a different version, and the story takes place in Iceland in the 13th century. Gazing at the frescoes, I couldn't help but think of the legend of Siegfried. In the story, he killed the evil dragon, obtained the treasures of the world, and married a beautiful princess... However, during a forest hunt, the traitor throws a fatal shot at his back, and the hero falls.
In the days that followed, Siegfried's story and other classic legends lingered in my mind, like a mischievous kitten's toy ball of yarn, lingering. With a variety of thoughts in my mind, I thought of the deep connection between The Song of the Nibelungen and European epics. The Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, the Icelandic Saga legend and the work of science fiction writer John Ronald Riel Tolkien (Tolkien's dragon story depicts a terrifying scaly beast that can stop children from crying at night) all have the shadow of the Nibelungen Song. And the protagonist Siegfried and the well-known Homeric hero, there is no lack of similarities. Siegfried was a master of disguise, as was the resourceful Odysseus. Like Achilles, Siegfried was almost impeccable, but he also had his own "Golden Bell Shroud Door". When he bathed in dragon blood, a bodhi leaf fell on his back, which became the only weakness in his whole body.
"Epic is about wandering." The poet Derek Walcott said, "You know, the knight left his homeland and bravely moved forward, encountering dragons of different looks along the way." "More than two thousand years ago, Aristotle defined the epic as a work that uses the most stable and elegant laws to imitate serious themes in the formation of the world. What appealed to me most about the European epic was not so much its form of expression as its theme and storyline. It uses stories and legends to closely link many peoples of different cultures on the vast European continent.
Theorists label these connections, from Jacob Grimm's discussion of "common connections" to Joseph Campbell's 12-stage theory of "mono-myth" (a theory that provided a steady stream of inspiration for later writers). By the 1870s, in the novel Middlemarch by writer George Eliot, the priest Casopon had a "key to all myths" whose exploration never stopped. Most of these statements are instructive, but I think they are all a little dull enough to explain the intricate connection between myth and folklore. In my opinion, these ancient legends are closely linked and constitute a complete ecosystem. This ecosystem is like a lush, shaded forest, and the stories are the big trees in the forest, and their roots are crisscrossed and intertwined.
A few months after this family trip, I began planning a new journey: to follow in the footsteps of the heroes of European epics, from Turkey's Anatolian Peninsula (Asia Minor) all the way north to the North Pole. It will be a solo trip, no longer accompanied by family. On this trip, I was not Odysseus, a heavily armed warrior driven by a militant overlord, nor Siegfried, who traveled the world for fame and fortune. I don't have well-developed muscles and a high level of strength, just a thin, bespectacled graffiti. I'm chasing the epic stories and fascinating heroes of the stories. I hope that this trip will make the book I am conceiving available as soon as possible.
A few years ago, I traveled through Europe in search of the medieval Persian epic Shanama (also known as the Book of Kings), and I never forgot what I saw along the way. In the fields, farmers chanted the chapters of Shanama in between labors; on the battlefield of the Iran-Iraq War, the rumbling gunshots still did not forget to tell those classic epic stories. For them, ancient epics are not treasures enshrined in ivory towers, but an indispensable part of the blood.
At that time, I still thought that Europe was different, and behind the orderly display of the museum was the artificial shaping of European history. But after several years of reading and traveling, this idea has been shaken. Now, I ask myself if this epic journey — ancient legends that haven't been processed or even some catch-all — will help me understand what Europe really is. If the magic of epic poetry still exists in modern society, can still affect the vast majority of ordinary people, and still make readers revered, then can we follow the footsteps of heroes across the European continent?
Each of the great European epics is closely associated with dramatic social changes, either against this backdrop or in turbulent times. The Odyssey tells the story of the follow-up to the Trojan War, the first time ancient Greece came into conflict with a foreign race. The epic was written during the transition from the age of heroes to the age of the city-state, the latter of which is about to replace the former. The Song of the Nibelungen tells the story of the fall of a Germanic kingdom at the end of the Roman Empire. The only surviving Old English epic, Beowulf, reflects the transformation of faith from paganism to Christianity in the British Isles. Most of these stories date back to the "Great Migration Era", when nomadic peoples living in the steppes and Scandinavian archipelagos of Central Asia left their homes and crossed the rivers of central Europe to the fertile plains and peninsulas of aquatic plants, and settled down. Since then, they—Franks and Danes, Germanic tribes, Anglo-Saxons—have been intimately associated with these plains and peninsulas. The myths they created laid the foundations of European history.
From a literary point of view, the word "Europa" first appeared in Homer's Iliad. Zeus brought the beautiful princess to Crete and forcibly bonded with her, where their descendants multiplied and reclaimed a new continent, which is europa, now Europe. This is not a strange anecdote, and the early history of mankind often began with a displacement. Later, the word "Europa" took on a richer connotation. In the eyes of the Greeks, it refers to the land west of the Aegean Sea; in the eyes of the Romans, it refers to the western part of the empire; in the eyes of encyclopers and cartographers, it refers to the "dark ages" of Europe; in the eyes of Charlemagne's courtiers, it refers to the vast lands of the Frankish Empire, which is used to praise the invincibility and vast territory of the Empire. It was not until the rise of humanism in the 15th century that people began to universally refer to themselves as "Europeans" in order to distinguish themselves from Christendom.
None of us know what the word "Europe" will mean in the future, but perhaps it can be glimpsed from the heroic epics of the various countries and peoples of Europe. These epics are legends that are passed down by word of mouth in the daily lives of ordinary people, chanted aloud in the royal halls, and are also adventure stories that inspire the king to expand his territory and inspire the army to go forward.
To this day, the legend of heroes slaying dragons and overcoming difficulties and obstacles still makes our hearts flutter. The extremely popular modern film and television works such as "Jaws", "Apocalypse Modern", and "Game of Thrones" are essentially in the same vein as classic epics such as "Beowulf", "Odyssey", and "Song of nibelungen". All this, as the friendly pig herding slave Yumeus in the Odyssey put it: "You stare at the bard, and your eyes are full of curiosity, and his chanting is trained by the gods, and the people are fascinated." Once he starts chanting, all you have in mind is to sit there and listen to him sing about your life. ”
There are so many classic epics, how do I choose? I am particularly fond of classic stories that were originally taught to each other and are still recited today. The word "epic" is derived from the Greek word epein, meaning "to speak". Only stories that can be told can become truly epic. Language has to be spoken to have power— the ancient Greeks called it kelethmos, which means "magic." It is precisely because epics were passed down by word of mouth long before the printing age that they became deeply rooted and became the core of European culture.
The European epic tradition began with Homer, and my epic journey began with it, or rather, from the Odyssey. The work tells the story of the resourceful hero Odysseus on his long journey home after the Trojan War. After the Odyssey, the places I passed on my travels were less widely known.
I traveled north from Greece into the Balkans, where I traced The Legend of Kosovo, the story of the Christian knights fighting against the Ottoman Empire. Then I crossed the Adriatic Sea into Western Europe to pursue the Song of Roland and listen to the tragic deeds of Charlemagne's paladins at the Battle of the Pyrenees. The most emblematic epic in Central Europe is The Song of the Nibelungen, which tells the heroic experience of the dragon slayer Siegfried and the story of his wife's revenge for him after he was murdered by a traitor. I then returned to The UK and followed in the footsteps of Beowulf and explored the historical legends of Britain and Scandinavia. In this story, the half-human, half-demon yokai is in the deer hall, and the hero Beowufu steps forward to fight the yokai head-on. Finally, I traveled to Iceland, the northernmost part of Europe, to pursue Nyal Saga and its poem The Song of Gunnar, and to hear the story of two Icelandic friends who finally broke up because of a feud.
European epics are a huge treasure, and this book is so full of leaks that it is impossible to tell all the stories, not even to mention every single one. So many stories have to be abandoned. But after following these classic stories on my journey through Europe, I hope to find answers to the questions that have long bothered me. How did epic legends shape Europe? Are they still worth reading today? Do they help us understand Europe today? Before I set out for Greece, I knew nothing about the journey and was full of trepidation. I can't help but pray that I won't encounter a dragon, right? Shouldn't be turned into pigs by cunning witches? The trip wasn't scary and there were a lot of surprises that exceeded expectations. I met veterans who loved epics equally and had the privilege of having a drink with him; I slept in a Bronze Age burial chamber and spent an unforgettable night; I watched visitors on the Dark Ages war sites remembering the warriors of the past; I walked side by side with the pagan high priest in the stately churches, discussing the meaning of faith... Epics have opened the door to a new world for me, and as a native Of Europe, I will be guided by epics on the continent that nurtured me to discover the deeper meaning of Europe.
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