On Norse Mythology

I am currently reading through Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology ¹ book, and while the entertainment value is there, I can’t really shake the feeling that the book, and this particular this branch of mythology is really not the most intellectually resourceful. This might sound awful but the stories are lacking a bit of substance for my liking.

Let me give you just one example. Loki does some mischief, he has to fix it, and while there seems to be no exit left for him, he escapes by some technicalities. Not only does this not present a valuable lesson for whom I believe the main audience would be, kids listening to the stories around a nice fire, but on the contrary, it provides an anti-example of conduit in a well working society.

The metaphysical level of the stories also not does really contain any substrate of philosophy which can have deeper ties to our inner sorrows, making us contemplate and see a difficult topic from a new angle.

I enjoy the warrior spirit present througouth, going to Valhalla does tickle my inner machismo, but for such a highly praised book and loved mythology as a whole, it lacks depth as compared with greek mythology.