A To Z 2023: Myth And Legend In Fiction - G Is For Neil Gaiman

 If you still haven’t read any of Neil Gaiman’s books, you are missing out - especially if you enjoy myth and legend. 

Of course, there is Good Omens, which he wrote with Terry Pratchett, based on Christian mythology, in which the Anti-Christ baby goes to the wrong family and an angel and a demon try to stop Armageddon from happening. It is, as you might have noticed, a send up of The Omen, but Adam the Anti-Christ is a nice kid. 

But Neil Gaiman has done plenty more in this area. He seems to have a love of Norse mythology. There is his book Norse Mythology, which retells the myths in a highly entertaining way. His introduction explains how he started with the Marvel comics, then went on to Roger Lancelyn Green, who wrote several retellings of various myths and legends(he was a friend of Tolkien, by the way). Roger Lancelyn Green’s Asgard was a Viking hall, very different from the Asgard of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. 

There aren’t many Norse myths still around, because most were written down only after Christianity arrived. In this retelling, Neil Gaiman wrote all the ones you are likely to find in your reading.  

In Odd And The Frost Giants, Odd, an orphan whose father was killed in an accident on his way home from a Viking raid, meets three Norse gods stuck in animal form and goes back to Asgard with them, helping them reclaim it from the invading Frost Giants. One of those, incidentally, had managed to marry Freya, as in the myths various giants were wanting to do. She has made him regret it.

Gaiman has written his own retelling of Hansel And Gretel, in which he uses research about mediaeval famines to explain the children’s abandonment by their parents and the witch’s cannibalism. 

Probably the most famous of his books that uses myth and legend is American Gods. The premise is that the various peoples who migrated to America brought their gods with them - literally. There is a road trip by the hero, Shadow Moon with Mr Wednesday, who is, of course, Odin. Odin has plans for a battle between the old gods, like himself, and the new gods people are worshipping in the present day, such as Media. There are chapters in between the main ones, labelled “Coming To America”, written by the Egyptian god Thoth, who is living in America,  running a small funeral parlour with fellow god Anubis. A wonderful book, and full of myths and legends from everywhere.

This novel is followed up by Anansi Boys, which is centred around the sons of African spider god Anansi, who had lived in America as Mr Nancy and appeared in American Gods, though it’s not a sequel and can be read standalone. He died while singing karaoke at a club, grabbing at a woman’s breasts while falling. The main character is Charlie Nancy, a mild mannered clerk working for a dishonest talent agent. Charlie(known as Fat Charlie, though no longer fat), who lives in England since his parents divorced, goes to his father’s funeral in Florida, where he meets some old ladies who knew him in his childhood, who advise him to speak to a spider if he wants to see the brother he didn’t know he had. He impulsively does so and regrets it. Spider, his brother, got all their father’s godly qualities. He interferes with Charlie’s job(probably just as well for Charlie as he is better able to handle the crooked boss) and dates Charlie’s fiancée, who doesn’t know he isn’t Charlie. He just wants Spider to go away, but it doesn’t work the way he expected and he has to fix it.

This novel takes readers into the world of African mythology, especially the stories of Anansi, who is a trickster god. It has been dramatised by the BBC as a radio play, with Lenny Henry as Mr Nancy/Anansi. 

I see from Wikipedia that there is a forthcoming TV miniseries of the book. That’s something to look forward to!