Imagining the Supernatural North

by Eleanor Barraclough (Editor), Danielle Cudmore (Editor), Stefan Donecker (Editor)

"Turning to face north, face the north, we enter our own unconscious. Always, in retrospect, the journey north has the quality of dream." Margaret Atwood, "True North" In this interdisciplinary collection, sixteen scholars from twelve countries explore the notion of the North as a realm of the supernatural. This region has long been associated with sorcerous inhabitants, mythical tribes, metaphysical forces of good and evil, and a range of supernatural qualities. It was both the sacred abode of the gods and a feared source of menacing invaders and otherworldly beings. Whether from the perspective of traditional Jewish lore or of contemporary black metal music, few motifs in European cultural history show such longevity and broad appeal. Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough, Angela Byrne, Danielle Marie Cudmore, Stefan Donecker, Brenda S. Gardenour Walter, Silvije Habulinec, Erica Hill, Jay Johnston, Maria Kasyanova, Jan Leichsenring, Shane McCorristine, Jennifer E. Michaels, Ya'acov Sarig, Rudolf Simek, Athanasios Votsis, Brian Walter

Genres: Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2016

About the author

Dr Eleanor Barraclough is a historian, broadcaster and author. Her latest book is EMBERS OF THE HANDS: HIDDEN HISTORIES OF THE VIKING AGE. It was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize, longlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction, chosen as a Times History Book of the Year, and selected as a New York Times Editor's Choice.

Eleanor is a BBC New Generation Thinker (although quite an old one now). She has made BBC documentaries on everything from apocalypses to zombies. She has jammed with viking musicians, cast spells with forest witches, and bathed in a frozen lake in search of immortality. She was once knighted with a walrus penis bone in Arctic Norway and inducted into the Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society.

In her academic life, Eleanor is Reader in Public History at Bath Spa University. She previously held positions at the universities of Oxford and Durham, and studied at the University of Cambridge. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of History, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

You can find her on Instagram @eleanorbarraclough

Reviews

[Jera Em]

An excellent read for anyone interested in the different viewpoints that have existed regarding "the North" throughout history and modern times. Several archetypes we see in modern fiction (Snow Queens for example) are all inspired by these outlooks, so it's well worth a read.

I enjoyed pretty much all of the essays but I had special fondness for "A Blaze in the Northern Sky: Semiotic Strategies of Constructing the Supernatural North in Music Subcultures" and "Men, Women, and Shamans: Daily Ritual Practice in the Supernatural North."

The first went over the Norse pagan imagery used in some of my favorite music genres (metal, neo/paganfolk, etc.) and it was awesome to see this explored and how it's used to make a point or to return to something older.

The second explored shamanism in the North (specifically the Eskimos) and how, in an attempt to state certain things are shamanism, we've ignored the regular day-to-day customs and ceremonies of regular people that took priority over the shaman themselves. It was a fascinating read.