Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold (Stephen Fry’s Greek Myths, 1)
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Beschreibung
Beiträge
Don´t get me wrong, Stephen Fry´s writing is really good and funny, the source material surely had something to it and I learned so much about where certain words and stories come from, but this got really tiring after a while. For me, there were just too many too short stories. This book is not ment to be read like a novel where you would read about 50 or 100 pages in a row, however since this is mostly the way I read I lost my exitement for this from time to time. But that´s really my personal problem. About the book itself: it is about people (gods) that do a lot of questionable things, which is kind of normal for these old stories and myths, but combined with the modern phrases used it comes across as really weird (in the best way) and funny. Despite the writing style, it is in the nature of these myths that expaining things can still be kind of dry and feel more like non-fiction history book than a retelling, but that´s not too bad since you actually learn something while you read. I really enjoyed how Fry never commented about how terrible everyone is as a person but just made some humorous remarks that were not to be taken serious. If you ever wondered about greek myths or old stories in general, there is no reason you shouldn´t pick up this book. It does, however, contain a lot of murder, rape and other terrible things, actually these things make the main content of this book. So if reading about just everyone being basically a monster isn´t your idea of fun, yeah I can see why you won´t care for it, but the framing makes it all ok I guess.
I can't believe I actually managed to finish this. How do people find this funny? This is one of the most boring books I've read since ages. I truly expected more from the author given his background. And what's about all those footnotes? Reads like an old history book - and even those can be more entertaining.
Die griechische Mythologie und ihre Sagen erleben momentan eine echte Renaissance, egal ob in Form von Fantasy-Jugendbüchern (Percy Jackson-Reihe), Nacherzählungen der Grundidee in modernem Setting (etwa „Home Fire“ von Kamila Shamsie) oder klassischen Retellings („Circe“ von Madeline Miller, The Silence of the Girls von Pat Barker), griechische Götter sind gefragt! (Es sei angemerkt, dass das Phänomen sich nicht auf die griechische Mythologie beschränkt, man siehe Neil Gaimans Buch über nordische Mythologie.) Der Schauspieler und Autor Stephen Fry gehört zu jenen, die schon als Kinder von den Sagen des griechischen Altertums fasziniert waren und ergriff die Gelegenheit, die lieb gewonnenen Geschichten nach eigener Manier neuzuerzählen. Wer Stephen Fry kennt, ahnt, dass dies nur mit einer gehörigen Portion Humor einhergehen kann – und entsprechend ist das Ergebnis. Frys Interpretationen der Sagen sprühen vor Witz, gelegentliche Anspielungen auf lebende Persönlichkeiten sind voll beabsichtigt. Darüber hinaus kennen wir Stephen Fry als begnadeten Erzähler, seine Einlesungen der Harry Potter-Bücher sind regelrecht legendär. Dementsprechend entschied ich mich für das Hörbuch – und meine Erwartungen wurden voll erfüllt. Für jemanden wie mich, die einzelne Sagen und die wichtigsten Gottheiten kannte, jedoch nie ein zusammenhängendes Werk zum Thema gelesen hat, bringt Fry im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes Ordnung in das Chaos, er strukturiert sein Buch in mehr oder weniger chronologischer Form, beginnt mit dem genannten Chaos und der ersten Göttergeneration und gelangt über die Titanen und die olympischen Göttern zur Erschaffung der Menschen und den Geschichten um deren „Interaktionen“ mit den Göttern. Einen Cut macht er bei den klassischen Heldensagen, denen er ein eigenes, nachfolgendes Buch gewidmet hat („Heroes“). Stephen Frys Witz und Erzähltalent machen daraus ein Buch, das Spaß macht und das man nur ungern zur Seite legt bzw. unterbricht. Aus den genannten Gründen empfehle ich unbedingt das Hörbuch, das Stephen Frys Text sicher noch einmal bereichert.
(Rtc)
Must read for fans of mythology. I have learned a lot I didn’t know about Greek mythology. The funny writing style is a bonus and makes it an easy read.
More like 4.5 stars, but half stars still aren't possible. Greek myths retold in an approachable, modern and very entertaining way. Fry is a great narrator as always! Sometimes I got a liiiitle bit confused about who is who and whose daughter they are and if their demi-gods or mortals or whatever. Thus 4 stars instead of 5. I'll definitely pick up the next part (about Heroes) aswell.
Loved it! Stephen Fry knows how to tell Greek myths in an interesting and amazing way. I did not get bored once and was always excited to see which story he’d retell next.
I dare say this is a perfect book. The stories told are somewhere between fact and fiction (as it goes with legends and myths) and told with such a delightful wit and critic eye that it is simply a joy to read. Since there are so many (small) stories, it is possible to read this book everywhere, because every few pages a new story starts, though they area pretty much all intertwined. If you're a fan of ancient history and humour, you should definitly give this gem a try!
Can Stephen Fry write more books about myths? Like every myth? Heracles, Illyad, Odyssee, Oedipus? Please? I love listening to his voice and his new take on the dialogue between the gods and mortals is the best. So, please, please, please: Write another one :-D Second hear-through: loved to listen to it on my way to and from work. It's relaxing and just plain awesome. Third hear-through (proper review:-D):Review – Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry A big fat THANK you to my good friend Andrea who recommended this audiobook to me on Audible. I listened to it in English, because it was not only written by Stephen Fry but also recorded by him. I can listen to him for hours. His voice is just so soothing. I have loved Greek Mythology ever since I was a little child. I loved the stories about Zeus, Demeter and Athena. At times I was a walking encyclopedia. I was fascinated how strange and unbelievable the myths were. I mean, Earth mother Gaia is created from Chaos. She feels alone and gives birth to her son-husband Uranus. They have many children together but then Uranus gets lusty and power hungry. Gaia wants to dispose of him. She asks her children to help her but no one except her son Chronos is ready to take on the task. They hatch a plan together and, in the end, Chronos loses his balls. His semen spills and Aphrodite emerges from that. Everything fine, right? WRONG. Chronos received a prophecy that his children will overpower him like he overpowered his father. So, what does Chronos do with the children he and his sister-wife Rhea have? He swallows them whole. Rhea starts to hate him (who wouldn’t??) and she saves her youngest son Zeus from this fate. Zeus overpowers his father, has his siblings regurgitated and the Gods take their place on Mount Olympus. I mean, if that’s not better than any soap opera ever, I don’t know :-D The material screams for a man like Stephen Fry. In contrast to all the other books I read, Stephen Fry is not here to tell you the moral of the story. He tells the Myths with his very own dry British humour and I love his idea how the Gods and Mortals speak. It’s just amazing. Here and there a few side blows and you have an awesome book about the old Greek Myths. Of course, I knew most of the Myths, but some of them and some aspects were new to me, but I was completely absorbed in the world. At some points, Stephen Fry’s way of re-telling the Myths, reminded me of Neil Gaiman. I loved his Norse Mythology. What can I say, I’m a big fan of all the Myths :-D Fry is able to re-tell the Myths in a modern way without them losing their originality. At no point was I bored. You can really hear how much fun Stephen Fry must have had while writing and reading the book. It fascinates me, how the Greeks have built up their world of Myths and more than once I was thinking: Who were the people that thought of these Myths and how in the hell did they get those ideas?! I think it’s very interesting, how Mount Olympus developed, and that Zeus is the King of the Gods but without his five siblings and the other six Gods he wouldn’t have stood a chance against the Titans. Hera seems to be a favourite of Stephen Fry although I don’t know if he hates her or likes her. Every Myth that has anything to do with Zeus being unfaithful ends with Hera being jealous (rightfully so). But she takes her anger out on the women and children. Oftentimes the women had no other choice, but Hera still pursues them and makes their life a living hell. The children as well. Just born and just because Zeus couldn’t keep it in his pants, they have one of the worst enemies for life that you could have: The Queen of the Gods: Hera. I think you can see in this story-telling that most of the Myths were written by men. No woman would just hate a newborn child that their husband is the father. They would hate the father, but Hera never confronts Zeus or does anything to him. I don’t know Hera can be quite nice and sweet at times but beware if her husband just looks at you the wrong way. You have an enemy for life then. This book is just great to listen to. Stephen Fry reads with such a joy that you are infected by his love for the Greek Myths. I had to laugh out loud more than once while listening. It catches the craziness of the Myths and more than once I asked me what the people that thought of them smoked or have taken to think of this strange characters. And Fry just says what he thinks about it and comes straight to the point with his typical dry humour. Without wax, Liawèn
[4/5] A little unconventional, especially if you've read older collections of myths but the style, when you got used to it, of telling the myths I already knew very well (at least most of them) made it very accessible. I think this might be the go to for people who don't like the pretentious, swollen type of language but really want to know more about the myths. I also did try out the audiobook and i love the narration so that is a recommendation i'd gladly make, too. I'm happy to still have Heroes to read even though I do slightly prefer the traditional way of telling these myths - just for the feeling. And the ego, to be honest.
Beschreibung
Beiträge
Don´t get me wrong, Stephen Fry´s writing is really good and funny, the source material surely had something to it and I learned so much about where certain words and stories come from, but this got really tiring after a while. For me, there were just too many too short stories. This book is not ment to be read like a novel where you would read about 50 or 100 pages in a row, however since this is mostly the way I read I lost my exitement for this from time to time. But that´s really my personal problem. About the book itself: it is about people (gods) that do a lot of questionable things, which is kind of normal for these old stories and myths, but combined with the modern phrases used it comes across as really weird (in the best way) and funny. Despite the writing style, it is in the nature of these myths that expaining things can still be kind of dry and feel more like non-fiction history book than a retelling, but that´s not too bad since you actually learn something while you read. I really enjoyed how Fry never commented about how terrible everyone is as a person but just made some humorous remarks that were not to be taken serious. If you ever wondered about greek myths or old stories in general, there is no reason you shouldn´t pick up this book. It does, however, contain a lot of murder, rape and other terrible things, actually these things make the main content of this book. So if reading about just everyone being basically a monster isn´t your idea of fun, yeah I can see why you won´t care for it, but the framing makes it all ok I guess.
I can't believe I actually managed to finish this. How do people find this funny? This is one of the most boring books I've read since ages. I truly expected more from the author given his background. And what's about all those footnotes? Reads like an old history book - and even those can be more entertaining.
Die griechische Mythologie und ihre Sagen erleben momentan eine echte Renaissance, egal ob in Form von Fantasy-Jugendbüchern (Percy Jackson-Reihe), Nacherzählungen der Grundidee in modernem Setting (etwa „Home Fire“ von Kamila Shamsie) oder klassischen Retellings („Circe“ von Madeline Miller, The Silence of the Girls von Pat Barker), griechische Götter sind gefragt! (Es sei angemerkt, dass das Phänomen sich nicht auf die griechische Mythologie beschränkt, man siehe Neil Gaimans Buch über nordische Mythologie.) Der Schauspieler und Autor Stephen Fry gehört zu jenen, die schon als Kinder von den Sagen des griechischen Altertums fasziniert waren und ergriff die Gelegenheit, die lieb gewonnenen Geschichten nach eigener Manier neuzuerzählen. Wer Stephen Fry kennt, ahnt, dass dies nur mit einer gehörigen Portion Humor einhergehen kann – und entsprechend ist das Ergebnis. Frys Interpretationen der Sagen sprühen vor Witz, gelegentliche Anspielungen auf lebende Persönlichkeiten sind voll beabsichtigt. Darüber hinaus kennen wir Stephen Fry als begnadeten Erzähler, seine Einlesungen der Harry Potter-Bücher sind regelrecht legendär. Dementsprechend entschied ich mich für das Hörbuch – und meine Erwartungen wurden voll erfüllt. Für jemanden wie mich, die einzelne Sagen und die wichtigsten Gottheiten kannte, jedoch nie ein zusammenhängendes Werk zum Thema gelesen hat, bringt Fry im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes Ordnung in das Chaos, er strukturiert sein Buch in mehr oder weniger chronologischer Form, beginnt mit dem genannten Chaos und der ersten Göttergeneration und gelangt über die Titanen und die olympischen Göttern zur Erschaffung der Menschen und den Geschichten um deren „Interaktionen“ mit den Göttern. Einen Cut macht er bei den klassischen Heldensagen, denen er ein eigenes, nachfolgendes Buch gewidmet hat („Heroes“). Stephen Frys Witz und Erzähltalent machen daraus ein Buch, das Spaß macht und das man nur ungern zur Seite legt bzw. unterbricht. Aus den genannten Gründen empfehle ich unbedingt das Hörbuch, das Stephen Frys Text sicher noch einmal bereichert.
(Rtc)
Must read for fans of mythology. I have learned a lot I didn’t know about Greek mythology. The funny writing style is a bonus and makes it an easy read.
More like 4.5 stars, but half stars still aren't possible. Greek myths retold in an approachable, modern and very entertaining way. Fry is a great narrator as always! Sometimes I got a liiiitle bit confused about who is who and whose daughter they are and if their demi-gods or mortals or whatever. Thus 4 stars instead of 5. I'll definitely pick up the next part (about Heroes) aswell.
Loved it! Stephen Fry knows how to tell Greek myths in an interesting and amazing way. I did not get bored once and was always excited to see which story he’d retell next.
I dare say this is a perfect book. The stories told are somewhere between fact and fiction (as it goes with legends and myths) and told with such a delightful wit and critic eye that it is simply a joy to read. Since there are so many (small) stories, it is possible to read this book everywhere, because every few pages a new story starts, though they area pretty much all intertwined. If you're a fan of ancient history and humour, you should definitly give this gem a try!
Can Stephen Fry write more books about myths? Like every myth? Heracles, Illyad, Odyssee, Oedipus? Please? I love listening to his voice and his new take on the dialogue between the gods and mortals is the best. So, please, please, please: Write another one :-D Second hear-through: loved to listen to it on my way to and from work. It's relaxing and just plain awesome. Third hear-through (proper review:-D):Review – Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry A big fat THANK you to my good friend Andrea who recommended this audiobook to me on Audible. I listened to it in English, because it was not only written by Stephen Fry but also recorded by him. I can listen to him for hours. His voice is just so soothing. I have loved Greek Mythology ever since I was a little child. I loved the stories about Zeus, Demeter and Athena. At times I was a walking encyclopedia. I was fascinated how strange and unbelievable the myths were. I mean, Earth mother Gaia is created from Chaos. She feels alone and gives birth to her son-husband Uranus. They have many children together but then Uranus gets lusty and power hungry. Gaia wants to dispose of him. She asks her children to help her but no one except her son Chronos is ready to take on the task. They hatch a plan together and, in the end, Chronos loses his balls. His semen spills and Aphrodite emerges from that. Everything fine, right? WRONG. Chronos received a prophecy that his children will overpower him like he overpowered his father. So, what does Chronos do with the children he and his sister-wife Rhea have? He swallows them whole. Rhea starts to hate him (who wouldn’t??) and she saves her youngest son Zeus from this fate. Zeus overpowers his father, has his siblings regurgitated and the Gods take their place on Mount Olympus. I mean, if that’s not better than any soap opera ever, I don’t know :-D The material screams for a man like Stephen Fry. In contrast to all the other books I read, Stephen Fry is not here to tell you the moral of the story. He tells the Myths with his very own dry British humour and I love his idea how the Gods and Mortals speak. It’s just amazing. Here and there a few side blows and you have an awesome book about the old Greek Myths. Of course, I knew most of the Myths, but some of them and some aspects were new to me, but I was completely absorbed in the world. At some points, Stephen Fry’s way of re-telling the Myths, reminded me of Neil Gaiman. I loved his Norse Mythology. What can I say, I’m a big fan of all the Myths :-D Fry is able to re-tell the Myths in a modern way without them losing their originality. At no point was I bored. You can really hear how much fun Stephen Fry must have had while writing and reading the book. It fascinates me, how the Greeks have built up their world of Myths and more than once I was thinking: Who were the people that thought of these Myths and how in the hell did they get those ideas?! I think it’s very interesting, how Mount Olympus developed, and that Zeus is the King of the Gods but without his five siblings and the other six Gods he wouldn’t have stood a chance against the Titans. Hera seems to be a favourite of Stephen Fry although I don’t know if he hates her or likes her. Every Myth that has anything to do with Zeus being unfaithful ends with Hera being jealous (rightfully so). But she takes her anger out on the women and children. Oftentimes the women had no other choice, but Hera still pursues them and makes their life a living hell. The children as well. Just born and just because Zeus couldn’t keep it in his pants, they have one of the worst enemies for life that you could have: The Queen of the Gods: Hera. I think you can see in this story-telling that most of the Myths were written by men. No woman would just hate a newborn child that their husband is the father. They would hate the father, but Hera never confronts Zeus or does anything to him. I don’t know Hera can be quite nice and sweet at times but beware if her husband just looks at you the wrong way. You have an enemy for life then. This book is just great to listen to. Stephen Fry reads with such a joy that you are infected by his love for the Greek Myths. I had to laugh out loud more than once while listening. It catches the craziness of the Myths and more than once I asked me what the people that thought of them smoked or have taken to think of this strange characters. And Fry just says what he thinks about it and comes straight to the point with his typical dry humour. Without wax, Liawèn
[4/5] A little unconventional, especially if you've read older collections of myths but the style, when you got used to it, of telling the myths I already knew very well (at least most of them) made it very accessible. I think this might be the go to for people who don't like the pretentious, swollen type of language but really want to know more about the myths. I also did try out the audiobook and i love the narration so that is a recommendation i'd gladly make, too. I'm happy to still have Heroes to read even though I do slightly prefer the traditional way of telling these myths - just for the feeling. And the ego, to be honest.