Cornwell's Nimue is a favourite of mine, too. Reading The Bright Sword, I've been enjoying the spidey-sense that you're bringing together/bridging/performing triage on character and story elements from across the different iterations of Arthur's story, even though I have no idea what most of the original elements were. It gives the whole book a really interesting patina.
Given that I had read that you had grown up without religion, I was so surprised by an interchange between Nimue and one of the liminal gods, that I had to pull off the road to relisten to that part of the audiobook. Thanks to the Kindle version, I can accurately quote it: One tells her, "Tell your Jesus that He owes us a debt." To which she responds, "I will. And my Jesus will tell you that no one but a Christian would've been so kind to your children."
In modern retellings of the Mythos, like MISTS OF AVALON, goodness is found mainly in the druid/pagan camp. As an atheist raised in Christianity, I felt this was heavy-handed. You also show the dark side of Christian zealotry, but this statement of Nimue's was such a generous thing to write. And unexpected.
PS: Do you know the Lal Waterson song "The Scarecrow"? Check out the June Tabor version. It has a stanza about the Druids that comes as a shock after all the benign New Age depictions.
thank you for noticing that. I felt like it would have been quite easy to just make the pagans the heroes and leave it at that-- because everybody loves the pagans! -- but it was more interesting and more honest to present a more complicated picture. There really was a clash of world views going on that were both flawed and valid in different ways. I will seek out that song!
"A song written by Mike Waterson which describes the legendary origin of the scarecrow. It relates to a religious cult existing in some communities, which chose a traveller to be treated like a king for a year. At the end of this time, during which the traveller was allowed to sleep with the high priestess, he was sacrificed to the corn god and his body left on a pole in the cornfield. The offspring of his union with the priestess later suffered the same fate in the spring."
The stanza about the child sacrifice is "blithe" in its presentation (from the June Tabor version):
"As I walked out one fine spring day,
Saw twelve jolly dons decked out in the blue and the gold so gay.
And to a stake they tied a child newborn,
Then the bells were rung and the songs were sung and they sowed their corn."
The song is nevertheless quite enigmatic and repays repeated listening. My guess is that your Nimue would not have been amused.
Enjoyed this post and all the potential rabbit holes it could take one down - also, sending gratitude for your honesty in talking about 'other stuff' and sending good thoughts. x
I bought The Bright Sword at Rakestraw Books when you were there, but saved it to read over the holiday break, and I loved it! Counting the days until I feel like I can justify rereading it. I've recommended it to several people and BTW, it got a few nice shout-outs on Defector in the Best Thing I Read All Year post. (Besides being the WSJ acrostic a few weeks ago, that was SO FUN to realize!)
I, of course, had to read this...just because. I've been avoiding ALL related Arthurian stuff while writing my serial THE SHIELD OF LOCKSLEY. But I have Nimue as a serious character in my story. She comes in and out at different times. She appears out of a puddle (she IS a water-nymph after all), but I have her as the Aunt of my protagonist's Squire, Brennis, who is in reality, Bruenor, also called La Cote Male Taile. I'm not following the Vulgate, but Mallory, and I've made significant changes to it. I've made Gawain into one of the second generation Knights because he once served as Arthur's Squire, and it made sense. So yes, I definitely wanted to take a look at what you had to say about her -- reading an essay is not the same as reading a novel.
I made the changes I did because I remembered having read THE MISTS OF AVALON and how it was so different from what I'd imagined it could be. But that was years ago, when the book first came out in the 80's. Hopefully you'll take a look at my story some day -- the first part is FREE -- and maybe even sign up for the rest. It is a different take on Arthur. The first generation of knights are all older, and the second generation eager to take over. I even use Sir Grummer because he's only mentioned once in all of Mallory. And what a character he turns out to be!
I listened on Audible so didn’t question the pronunciation at the time but I really like your explanation of how not being able to pin her down makes her more human and less mythical (to us) - though still enchanting to Collum.
Good luck with your other ‘stuff'. I’ve been reading my friend’s poems about dogs, plus hanging out with our dog: both things help.
Cornwell's Nimue is a favourite of mine, too. Reading The Bright Sword, I've been enjoying the spidey-sense that you're bringing together/bridging/performing triage on character and story elements from across the different iterations of Arthur's story, even though I have no idea what most of the original elements were. It gives the whole book a really interesting patina.
Mild BRIGHT SWORD spoiler follows:
Given that I had read that you had grown up without religion, I was so surprised by an interchange between Nimue and one of the liminal gods, that I had to pull off the road to relisten to that part of the audiobook. Thanks to the Kindle version, I can accurately quote it: One tells her, "Tell your Jesus that He owes us a debt." To which she responds, "I will. And my Jesus will tell you that no one but a Christian would've been so kind to your children."
In modern retellings of the Mythos, like MISTS OF AVALON, goodness is found mainly in the druid/pagan camp. As an atheist raised in Christianity, I felt this was heavy-handed. You also show the dark side of Christian zealotry, but this statement of Nimue's was such a generous thing to write. And unexpected.
PS: Do you know the Lal Waterson song "The Scarecrow"? Check out the June Tabor version. It has a stanza about the Druids that comes as a shock after all the benign New Age depictions.
thank you for noticing that. I felt like it would have been quite easy to just make the pagans the heroes and leave it at that-- because everybody loves the pagans! -- but it was more interesting and more honest to present a more complicated picture. There really was a clash of world views going on that were both flawed and valid in different ways. I will seek out that song!
Here is an explanation of "The Scarecrow" song, on the origins of the modern scarecrow from the wonderful Mainly Norfolk website (https://mainlynorfolk.info/watersons/songs/thescarecrow.html):
"A song written by Mike Waterson which describes the legendary origin of the scarecrow. It relates to a religious cult existing in some communities, which chose a traveller to be treated like a king for a year. At the end of this time, during which the traveller was allowed to sleep with the high priestess, he was sacrificed to the corn god and his body left on a pole in the cornfield. The offspring of his union with the priestess later suffered the same fate in the spring."
The stanza about the child sacrifice is "blithe" in its presentation (from the June Tabor version):
"As I walked out one fine spring day,
Saw twelve jolly dons decked out in the blue and the gold so gay.
And to a stake they tied a child newborn,
Then the bells were rung and the songs were sung and they sowed their corn."
The song is nevertheless quite enigmatic and repays repeated listening. My guess is that your Nimue would not have been amused.
Enjoyed this post and all the potential rabbit holes it could take one down - also, sending gratitude for your honesty in talking about 'other stuff' and sending good thoughts. x
I bought The Bright Sword at Rakestraw Books when you were there, but saved it to read over the holiday break, and I loved it! Counting the days until I feel like I can justify rereading it. I've recommended it to several people and BTW, it got a few nice shout-outs on Defector in the Best Thing I Read All Year post. (Besides being the WSJ acrostic a few weeks ago, that was SO FUN to realize!)
I, of course, had to read this...just because. I've been avoiding ALL related Arthurian stuff while writing my serial THE SHIELD OF LOCKSLEY. But I have Nimue as a serious character in my story. She comes in and out at different times. She appears out of a puddle (she IS a water-nymph after all), but I have her as the Aunt of my protagonist's Squire, Brennis, who is in reality, Bruenor, also called La Cote Male Taile. I'm not following the Vulgate, but Mallory, and I've made significant changes to it. I've made Gawain into one of the second generation Knights because he once served as Arthur's Squire, and it made sense. So yes, I definitely wanted to take a look at what you had to say about her -- reading an essay is not the same as reading a novel.
I made the changes I did because I remembered having read THE MISTS OF AVALON and how it was so different from what I'd imagined it could be. But that was years ago, when the book first came out in the 80's. Hopefully you'll take a look at my story some day -- the first part is FREE -- and maybe even sign up for the rest. It is a different take on Arthur. The first generation of knights are all older, and the second generation eager to take over. I even use Sir Grummer because he's only mentioned once in all of Mallory. And what a character he turns out to be!
Yikes, I was pronouncing it closer to 'imbue'! I like the svp comparison.
I listened on Audible so didn’t question the pronunciation at the time but I really like your explanation of how not being able to pin her down makes her more human and less mythical (to us) - though still enchanting to Collum.
Good luck with your other ‘stuff'. I’ve been reading my friend’s poems about dogs, plus hanging out with our dog: both things help.