John's list of books

From: Jeff Richard <richaje_at_gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 20 May 2005 09:47:17 -0700


>And I, selected bits of Beowulf, Maldon, and the Tain.
 John - not three posts into the threads and you are already ignoring the stipulated rules! One source, not three!:)  Seriously, the reason I go with Njal's Saga or Egil's Saga is their power as literature. Although I enjoy various translations of Beowulf, as literature it is more than a little inaccessible (lengthy poems are extremely difficult to get most people to read). Same with the Tain. The prose translations of Beowulf and the Tain are quite stilted, and although more readable, they are less intersting. The Icelandic sagas have the advantage in that their literary style is very approachable to a modern reader - and they focus on broader issues than heroic actions.  I love the Asterix comics, but they are neither thematically or visually appropriate for my campaigns. If I was going to pick a comic book, I'd go with Age of Bronze (since I do borrow a lot from the Illiad and other Greek myths for my campaigns).
 Jeff

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