Myth and History

The novel explores the relationship between myth and history. Any nation is defined as much by its history as by the folk tales and myths it creates and sustains. The novel asks which defines a nation, a people: the events of its history or the reach of that culture’s imagination embodied in its folk tales, myths, and legends. History here is dark and forbidding record, oppressive and depressing. History is driven by incompetents, fools, the greedy, the selfish, and the arrogant. By introducing a resilient, free spirited character from German folklore into an otherwise meticulously researched historical narrative, Tyll juxtaposes history, real-time events of real-time people that have real-time impact that shape and define what is recognized as a country’s history, against the powerful un-reality of its myths. Myth emerges from the very consciousness of a people, and those larger-than-life figures come...