It’s fair to say 2012 has been great for women werewolves. Lycanthropes have also had some ups and downs in literature and pop culture this year; and as for gatherings of werewolf fans, there was one disastrous convention and one that was quite good.
Posts Tagged with folklore
Werewolf songs from Sweden
Given the subtle, moody atmosphere created on the new CD by Swedish publisher Malört förlag, Werewolf Songs, weaving in dark emotions and barely-suppressed savagery, it’s fair to say the Swedish werewolf’s bite is nastier than its bark.
The collection was released as a companion piece to by Malört förlag’s new reissue of ethnologist Ella Odstedt’s Varulven i svensk folktradition (The Werewolf in Swedish Folklore) which was first published in 1943. The songs on the CD, by musicians from Sweden, Finland, Belgium, England, and the United States, are based on the book.
Interview: Dr. Phillip Bernhardt-House on Celtic werewolves
Those fortunate enough to attend the inaugural HowlCon in Portland, OR this past weekend had the opportunity to hear Dr. Phillip Bernhardt-House speak on werewolves and canine figures in ancient Celtic traditions. He completed his Ph.D on the subject in 2006, published as Werewolves, Magical Hounds, and Dog-Headed Men in Celtic Literature:A Typological Study of Shape-Shifting in 2010 by Mellen Press. The book was awarded D. Simon Evans Prize in Medieval Studies.
Werewolf aficionados out there, let that sink in: you can do a Ph.D studying lycanthropes.
Parson, composer, werewolf hunter: Sabine Baring-Gould
Sabine Baring-Gould is by no means a celebrity today, but in the 19th century he brought a modern sensibility to an ancient body of superstitions: werewolf lore.
I first came across his name thanks to A Very Special Christmas, of all things. On the 1987 compilation album, among the carols recorded by the then-current crop of rock stars was “Gabriel’s Message,” by Sting. The liner notes credited S. Baring-Gould as the composer.
Born in 1834, the Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould was a prolific writer, composer and collector of folklore. Among his scores of published works are a multi-volume Lives of the Saints, hymns including “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” and The Book of Were-Wolves, a classic survey of werewolf folklore first published in 1865.
For fans of gothic literature, the first chapter alone makes the book worth picking up. As the introduction in the edition I have puts it, Baring-Gould’s account of his stumbling across pervasive belief in werewolves while on holiday in France is worthy of a Victorian novel.
Wendigo as babysitter: keeping your kids safe
There’s always more that comes out during an interview than you can ever get into an article. You try, but sometimes those tangents don’t belong in the story you’re writing, or you have to take a third of a direct quote when you’d just like to let the person speak in his or her own voice for a paragraph or two.
When I had the opportunity to interview storyteller Jeanne Pelletier about her part in this anthology of traditional Métis stories published as a graphic novel anthology to help bring the stories to a new generation, one of the tangents was why stories of monsters are good for children.
