'Why is your axe bloody?'

'Why is your axe bloody?'
Author: William Ian Miller
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2014-07-17
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0191014915

Nijáls saga the greatest of the sagas of the Icelanders, was written around 1280. It tells the story of a complex feud, that starts innocently enough in a tiff over seating arrangement at a local feast, and expands over the course of 20 years to engulf half the country, in which both sides are effectively exterminated, Njal and his family burned to death in their farmhouse, the other faction picked off over the entire course of the feud. Law and feud feature centrally in the saga, Njál, its hero, being the greatest lawyer of his generation. No reading of the saga can do it justice unless it takes its law, its feuding strategies, as well as the author's stunning manipulation and saga conventions. In 'Why is your axe bloody' W.I. Miller offers a lively, entertaining, and completely oriignal personal reading of this lengthy saga.

'Why is Your Axe Bloody?'

'Why is Your Axe Bloody?'
Author: William Ian Miller
Publisher:
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2014
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0198704844

Njals saga, the greatest of the sagas of the Icelanders, was written around 1280. It tells the story of a complex feud that starts innocently enough--in a tiff over seating arrangement at a local feast--and expands over the course of 20 years to engulf half the country, in which both sides are effectively exterminated, Njal and his family burned to death in their farmhouse, the other faction picked off over the entire course of the feud. Law and feud feature centrally in the saga, Njal, its hero, being the greatest lawyer of his generation. No reading of the saga can do it justice unless it takes its law, its feuding strategies, as well as the author's stunning manipulation and saga conventions. In 'Why is Your Axe Bloody?' W.I. Miller offers a lively, entertaining, and completely orignal personal reading of this lengthy saga.

'Why is Your Axe Bloody?'

'Why is Your Axe Bloody?'
Author: William Ian Miller
Publisher:
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2014
Genre: Njáls saga
ISBN: 9780191789441

Njals saga, the greatest of the sagas of the Icelanders, was written around 1280. It tells the story of a complex feud, that starts innocently enough in a tiff over seating arrangement at a local feast, and expands over the course of 20 years to engulf half the country, in which both sides are effectively exterminated, Njal and his family burned to death in their farmhouse, the other faction picked off over the entire course of the feud. Law and feud feature centrally in the saga, Njal, its hero, being the greatest lawyer of his generation. No reading of the saga can do it justice unless it takes its law, its feuding strategies, as well as the author's stunning manipulation and saga conventions. In 'Why is your axe bloody' W.I. Miller offers a lively, entertaining, and completely original personal reading of this lengthy saga.

Bloodtaking and Peacemaking

Bloodtaking and Peacemaking
Author: William Ian Miller
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 420
Release: 2009-05-15
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0226526828

Dubbed by the New York Times as "one of the most sought-after legal academics in the county," William Ian Miller presents the arcane worlds of the Old Norse studies in a way sure to attract the interest of a wide range of readers. Bloodtaking and Peacemaking delves beneath the chaos and brutality of the Norse world to discover a complex interplay of ordering and disordering impulses. Miller's unique and engaging readings of ancient Iceland's sagas and extensive legal code reconstruct and illuminate the society that produced them. People in the saga world negotiated a maze of violent possibility, with strategies that frequently put life and limb in the balance. But there was a paradox in striking the balance—one could not get even without going one better. Miller shows how blood vengeance, law, and peacemaking were inextricably bound together in the feuding process. This book offers fascinating insights into the politics of a stateless society, its methods of social control, and the role that a uniquely sophisticated and self-conscious law played in the construction of Icelandic society. "Illuminating."—Rory McTurk, Times Literary Supplement "An impressive achievement in ethnohistory; it is an amalgam of historical research with legal and anthropological interpretation. What is more, and rarer, is that it is a pleasure to read due to the inclusion of narrative case material from the sagas themselves."—Dan Bauer, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

Emotion in Old Norse Literature

Emotion in Old Norse Literature
Author: Sif Ríkharðsdóttir
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2017
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1843844702

Draws on Old Norse literary heritage to explore questions of emotion as both a literary motif and as a social phenomenon.

Blood Legacy

Blood Legacy
Author: James Pylant
Publisher: Jacobus Books
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2008-04-01
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 0962274690

In 1925 Texans were stunned when a young man’s severed head was found in an abandoned farmhouse near the town of Stephenville. An investigation led to ex-convict F. M. Snow and the mysterious disappearances of his wife and mother-in-law. But this shocking, bloody saga began 50 years earlier . . . Beautiful, vivacious Samantha Jones had a penchant for dangerous men. Her teenage marriage to gambler Amos Smith ended when he was gunned down in a hit orchestrated by his wife’s alleged lover, who was lynched. The widow then married the abusive Bill Olds, who was later arrested for theft, forgery and murder. Violence stalked the next generation when Samantha’s daughter, Maggie Olds, was twice widowed with the brutal murders of her second and fourth husbands. Yet Maggie’s unfortunate choice for a fifth husband, F. M. Snow, led to a gruesome, triple tragedy. In Blood Legacy: The True Story of the Snow Axe Murders, James Pylant delves into family history and sheds new light on a tale of twenty shocking deaths fueled by greed, insanity and revenge. "From hits to lynchings to black widows, this chronicle proves endlessly intriguing." —The Midwest Book Review "Set in the seemingly quiet isolation of small-town Texas, Blood Legacy is a well-written, well-researched true tale with Gothic overtones and more than a hint of Stephen King-style horror." —Carlton Stowers, best-selling and award-winning author

The Axe and the Tree

The Axe and the Tree
Author: Stephen Griffiths
Publisher: Monarch Books
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2017-02-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0857217909

A powerful account of British missionaries, Peter and Brenda Griffiths, who played a critical role in the development of the Elim church in the aftermath of the Vumba massacre. Peter and Brenda Griffiths, Stephen's parents, and their team had set up a superb secondary school, only for guerrillas to slaughter almost all the staff. After their funerals Peter maintained that forgiveness for the attackers was the Christian thing to do. This is an inspiring story of Peter and Brenda's courage, sacrifice, and faithfulness in God, who despite the atrocities, continues to build His church in Zimbabwe.

Blood Storm

Blood Storm
Author: Steven Harper
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2024-09-17
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1504096827

A half-troll and his companions must recover a forgotten magic to rescue their friends in this epic fantasy adventure by the author of Iron Axe. Danr the half-troll saved the kingdom of Erda from destruction and restored peace to the realm. His own life, however, is far from peaceful. Going out in public, he draws attention from fans and from those who still see him as an evil half-breed. When he learns of a people who once wielded the power of the shape, he dreams of becoming fully human and settling down on a quiet farm with his beloved. But others would like to possess such magic. Slavers abduct Danr’s friends, ransoming them for the power of the shape. Now Danr, Aisa, and their friend, Talfi the undying, must embark on a perilous quest that will force them to confront the Fates, Death, and a giant wyrm that dwells at the bottom of the sea. If he hopes to survive, Danr must become the hero he is so reluctant to be . . . Praise for Iron Axe “[Harper’s] reinterpretations of trolls, giants, and fae folk give this series opener a fresh feeling, while his nods to Norse mythology and folklore root it strongly in fantasy tradition. Readers will be eager to see what’s in store for Aisa and Danr.” —Publishers Weekly “Steven Harper created a world that I never got tired of exploring.” —The Qwillery “The story holds all of the adventure, magic, and mystery I have come to expect from the genre. . . . [It] follows a hero’s journey . . . with energy and artfulness.” —Wicked Little Pixie

The Axe

The Axe
Author: Sigrid Undset
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2013-02-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 030777306X

Set in 13th-century Norway, The Axe is the first volume in Undset's epic tetralogy, The Master of Hestviken. In it, we meet Olav Audunsson and Ingunn Steinfinnsdatter, who were betrothed as children and raised as brother and sister. In the heedlessness of youth, they become lovers, unaware that their ardor will forge the first link in a chain of murder, exile, and disgrace. Undset's novel is also a meticulous re-creation of a world split between pagan codes of retribution and the rigors of Christian piety--a world where law is a fragile new invention and manslaughter is so common that it's punishable by a fine."Undset reproduces medieval Norway in all the rich pageantry of color and form...she can transport us eight centuries and several thousand miles more effectively than most writers can take us into the house next door."--The Nation