by Time-Life Books (Editor)
Publisher : Time Life Education; 1st edition (May 1, 1984)
Hardcover, 143 pages
“Whether European or Asian, the race of dragons was as
old as creation and varied as nature itself. Their very characteristics were
difficult to classify or define. The accounts from chroniclers and scholars
from the centuries of the dragons’ ascendancy agree only on a general picture
of a serpentine beast protected by a body armor of overlapping scales and
equipped with claws to cut, teeth to tear, and breath and blood to burn. The
creatures almost always had preternaturally acute vision, indeed, ‘dragon’ seems
to have been derived from the ancient Greek verb ‘to see’. A few had both this
keen eyesight and, for their prey, a burning basilisk gaze that was death to
behold.”
When I was a kid advertisements for this series aired
constantly - at least in the time slots that I usually watched. Time Life had a
great reputation of putting out intricate and useful reference materials. This
was well before the internet so good reference materials were needed. This
series was different however. It collected all the fantasy elements and placed
them in their proper books. It was unlike any sort of book I had seen before.
My mother finally caved in and ordered me the set. When I ran out to show my
friends they were mostly unimpressed by the first volume, Wizards and Witches,
but when I showed them this one, all their eyes lit up. Dragons were no joke.
Suddenly they were all very envious.
The book itself is worth it just to leaf through and
drink in all of the magnificent art. As previously the volume breaks down the
various types of dragons based primarily on region. The European stories of
dragons, or drakes, or wyrms - whatever they are called - are very different
from those told further east in China. The Asiatic versions were seen as
spiritual beings, personifications of the air and water - creatures to be
reasoned with on occasion, rather than outright killed.
The four parts of the book deal with the dragon as the
form of chaos incarnate at the beginning of time. Born before time began, these
creatures were sons of chaos, and so the gods did battle with them, for only
when they were beaten could order prevail and the universe be born. Moving on
to tales of European dragons in their various forms in the second chapter.
While the third deals with Asain tales of dragons, and the final focuses solely
on the rise to prominence of the dragonslayer as hero. In the course we learn
the stories of Apep, Tiamat, Jörmungandr, Nidhoggr, and Typhon. Beowulf,
Perseus (in the original telling of his story the monster was a sea dragon),
Saint Martha and Tarasque, St. George, Sigurd the Volsung, along with a host of
Persian and Russian rulers - among many many others.
No comments:
Post a Comment