tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post5032685240440857930..comments2024-03-10T20:46:19.274-04:00Comments on In the Middle: GiantsCord J. Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06224143153295429986noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-53756617622277836852011-08-28T19:26:23.693-04:002011-08-28T19:26:23.693-04:00I was going to mention André the Giant, because by...I was going to mention André the Giant, because by one of those coincidences that the Internet keeps throwing at me, I learnt about him yesterday by being pointed at <a href="http://www.drunkard.com/issues/10_06/10_06_andre_giant.html" rel="nofollow">this article</a>, which you or others might enjoy. More usefully, I realise words are short but is it worth, just for the expansion of the geographical horizon, mentioning Sindbad the Sailor and his run-ins with giants at the same point as John de Mandeville?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-12729945704719407292011-08-28T16:35:53.065-04:002011-08-28T16:35:53.065-04:00"Steading of the Hill Giant Chieftain": ..."Steading of the Hill Giant Chieftain": oh the memories!! You are certainly right about the game resurrecting mythologies, Rob.<br /><br />Steve, WHO in your family is the Percy Jackson expert? I'm thinking it isn't just Ian. Thanks for the correction. And Ents: yes, must mention ents (and Tolkien also has stone giants).<br /><br />Barrok, alas, is not even a footnote -- even though that giant is one I've written on at some length in the past.<br /><br />Miriamne: yes, I should gesture towards the rich OE mythology of giants, at the very least -- right!Jeffrey Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-69201795076739892842011-08-27T10:35:00.311-04:002011-08-27T10:35:00.311-04:00Although you sort of lament your not beginning the...Although you sort of lament your not beginning the work of your fellowship year (I am perhaps psychoanalyzing here and reading into your remark, "I am worried about not having time to write the book to which this year was supposed to be dedicated" ["postcard from Maine, 2011"] so sorry for that, but prewritten drafts *have* begun (!!): "Giants were especially associated with stone and topography. Boulders, ruined buildings, and mountains indicated their former presence. This etiological function is shared by giants in Old English literature, which frequently refers to ancient structures like Roman walls as enta geweorc, the work of giants" ("Gaints")--"stone," "topography," "Boulders, ruined buildings" and "enta geweorc." I also see evidence of some questioning of who, exactly, the Grendel-kin are (I am excited by this evidence too as I deeply doubt their "evil"): "Though never precisely described, the monster Grendel and his mere-dwelling mother appear both to be giants. Enormous, humanoid, and children of Cain, they share the same fate, decapitation" ("Giants"), which I love seeing/reading--"never precisely described" much emerges in between these words. To my mind, both signify Grendel and his mom resonate as the "lithic narratives" (Cohen, Postmedieval) of our social topography--the narratives that are always already established patterns (patterns, such as rendering the different into things that evoke fear and underwrite community, our comitatus). I read these medieval and contemporary social patterns as stone-like structures, impermeable and always there in perpetuity, "lithic narratives" that are the unfortunate base to our fraught social economy that generates (un)acceptable racism, homophobia, misognyny, . . . .Miriamnenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-38835890966330529312011-08-26T12:19:02.210-04:002011-08-26T12:19:02.210-04:00So Barrok/Amiote will be a footnote? How sad for f...So Barrok/Amiote will be a footnote? How sad for female giants in the Middle Ages! ;)Ms. Grinberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00306900355114976263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-73705594188099129032011-08-26T11:28:03.420-04:002011-08-26T11:28:03.420-04:00If we'd known you were researching Percy Jacks...If we'd known you were researching Percy Jackson, I might have been able to bring Ian to you for a consult as we drove south through Ogunquit. He'd tell you that Book IV, with Briareus, is *The Battle of the Labyrinth*, not *The Battle of the Olympians*. Did I miss a nod toward Tolkien's Ents,trees in fact but giants in etymology?Steve Mentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02927244468764583378noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-74063996629883039102011-08-26T09:42:16.419-04:002011-08-26T09:42:16.419-04:00(Seriously, though, D&D was a major component ...(Seriously, though, D&D was a major component of the post-1960s revival of fantasy and mythological material in Western culture, so it's actually not a bad idea to reference the game--an entire generation first encountered giants outside of the nursery while fighting them off in "Steading of the Hill Giant Chieftain".)Rob Barretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17791752557408134270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-62446951401099742732011-08-26T09:40:08.599-04:002011-08-26T09:40:08.599-04:00I don't know if I can every forgive you for le...I don't know if I can every forgive you for leaving D&D Module G1-2-3, <i>Against the Giants</i>, out of your entry!<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_the_GiantsRob Barretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17791752557408134270noreply@blogger.com