The Book of Ballads and
Sagas (2018), by Charles Vess (artist), Neil Gaiman, Charles
de Lint, Jeff Smith, et. al (authors), came in yesterday, another part of my
Christmas collection (books bought with money I received as a present), and I
was finally able to see what it was all about. I was kind of excited, for the
ingredients (folk songs, a great artist, famous authors) all seemed to augur
quite an experience.
The volume is a bound serial of graphic comics, originally
in four issues, reproduced in black and white. It contains several writers’
interpretations (or re-interpretations) of a number of folk ballads, which are
then printed in full in the original version, so you can see what the people
had to work with. The result is a rather mixed bag.
If
you are a fan of folk ballads, I don’t know if you will appreciate the
wrenching of meaning that occasionally seeks to change the import of the songs
(I think the section ‘Barbara Allen’ is particularly egregious here). If you
are a fan of comic book stories, I don’t know if you will appreciate the
sometimes scrappy and incomplete storytelling. Anyway, that is how it took me. If
you are looking for the appropriation and rewriting of folk culture to serve “modern”
mores, it may not bother you.
It
does not particularly bother me, but it does not attract me either so much as
distract me. There is much room for interpretation in a ballad, after all; the
story it gives is often skeletal, at best. “The Black Fox” as told by Emma Bull
seems to be particularly well-done, but I don’t know if that is because this is
the first time I have heard it and don’t have any memories or images attached
to it as I do for “Thomas the Rhymer” or “Tam Lin” or “Alison Gross”.
The
only “saga” included in the book is “Skade” by Robert Walton. While Skade is an
actual character of Norse myth (she is a giantess who winds up marrying Njord,
one of the gods), I have been unable to tell if there is an actual saga of her
deeds, or if Walton is merely sewing together elements of myth for his own story.
“Skade” comes near the end of the book, is incomplete, and includes a rather rambling
“script” for the comic.
As
if not wanting to end things on such a confusing note as “Skade”, Vess concludes
with a grab-bag of his art (old covers, fantasy themes, and such),
ending with one of his own stories, which he admits is neither a ballad nor a
saga. It concerns a travelling show, a witch, and a scarecrow, more like a tale
by Bradbury than anything else. Its inclusion is puzzling but seems to confirm
the hotch-potch nature of the book.
“Ballads and Sagas” is a sort of casserole that never quite seems to gel thematically. It is presented well, and parts are quite appealing, and on the whole I’m satisfied that I have it, if only for its contributions by some of my favorite authors. It kicked up a memory for me from the Shadow Library, which I shall deal with later. But I can’t say I’m in love with it or overly enthusiastic about it or would heartily recommend it. So, there it is.
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