It’s a common misconception that myths, legends, and fairy tales have lost all their power in the modern world. Nothing could be more inaccurate. Here I’m not discussing covert mythologies like belief in progress, though of course a strong case can be made for that. I mean myths and legends in the modern sense of…
Tag: romanticism
The Nibelung’s Ring: The Rediscovery
At the conclusion of the last thrilling episode of our exploration of Richard Wagner’s opera cycle The Nibelung’s Ring, we watched bards and minstrels across the European world from Iceland to Austria keeping themselves fed and their patrons entertained by retelling traditional stories about the magic hoard of gold that Siegfried won by slaying the…