On a way of seeing— superimposition—
that "seems insanity" (cf. C. S. Lewis's remarks below)
Combining last night's post Spectrum with
the August 14 post Valhalla Is Down…
From An Experiment in Criticism
by C.S. Lewis, 1961–
"If we go steadily through all the myths of any people
we shall be appalled by much of what we read.
Most of them, whatever they may have meant to
ancient or savage man, are to us meaningless and
shocking; shocking not only by their cruelty and
obscenity but by their apparent silliness— almost
what seems insanity. Out of this rank and squalid
undergrowth the great myths— Orpheus, Demeter
and Persephone, the Hesperides, Balder, Ragnarok,
or Ilmarinen's forging of the Sampo– rise like elms."
Voilà —
The Aug. 14 post Valhalla Is Down referred to a New York Times blackout.
(Jill Abramson, on earlier being named executive editor at the Times, had
said it was like "ascending into Valhalla.")
Another Times blackout occurred today.
Lewis's term Ragnarok refers to the twilight of the gods of Valhalla.
A more conventional illustration from the gamer website Ragnarok/Valhalla Wiki —
