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A
fine examination & deconstruction of legend and lullaby throughout
history, and it's peculiar effect on the frightened little children
of the world. Let's see... what did I learn from No Go The Bogeyman....?
hmmmm....
* "Kinderfresser" is German for "child-guzzler".
Yes.
* A lullaby from Iceland: "Sleep, you little black-eyed pig.
Fall into a deep [foul] pit full of ghosts..." Maybe that explains
why Bjork is so goddamned weird.
* Whoa. Hang on, St. Christopher....
He was a what?
* In the lullaby "Rock-a-Bye Baby", the tree is possibly
symbolic of the family tree, the bough breaking representative of
the death of the parents. When I was little, I always wondered why
the hell there was a baby in a tree.
* Now I know what "Sheela-Na-Gig" means.
I also learned that I'm just not really smart enough to understand
most of what this book had to say. I did, however, derive great pleasure
in reading the examples Marina Warner gave to support whatever point
she was trying to make. Something to do with bananas. I, personally,
think it's great to be exposed to the fouler, bawdier side of history
and culture. Beats the hell out of what I learned in school, anyways.
This book also featured many references to classic works of art and
literature I knew nothing or next to nothing about, which crippled
my enjoyment a bit. Great pictures (black & white w/ two color
sections) featuring big-headed bogeys & some nice engravings.
There were also lots of phallic comparisons & interpretations,
which normally annoy me, but here seemed quite on-the-money. Probably
because I was reading it quietly to myself instead of having to listen
to some college coed who just finished reading some sexual identity
paperback trying to convince me that I'm part of the white dominant
patriarchy. Which, you know, I am. An enlightening book for an unenlightened
person.
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COVER
ART:
Very cool. I mean, hell, it made me pick the book up in the first
place, right?
BIG
WORDS:
a whole bunch
BEST
LINE:
"Piss
a bed / Piss a bed / Barley Butt / Your bum is so heavy / You can't
get up." (from Tom Thumb's Pretty Song Book, 1744)
SEE
ALSO:
THE DECAMERON, HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES
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