Scan barcode
jdintr's review
3.0
I picked this up in a thrift shop in New Orleans a couple years ago and began reading it this month, just after setting up a program that would take me to Ingelheim-am-Rhein, Germany every summer for the foreseeable future.
How wonderful, then, when I realized that this book isn't merely about "Germany" but about the "Rhine Valley" in particular, a region that is high on any travel "bucket list" that includes a visit to Germany.
What Spence has done here is to follow the Rhine from Dortmund almost all the way to the Swiss border, a stretch of river which is among the most densely be-castled in the world.
As it turns out, Germany's Black Forest isn't the only spring of fairy tales in the land. While an occasional dwarf or witch pops up in these tales, most of them deal with knights, maidens and the costs of chivalry. Every twist and turn of the river is immortalized in legend, perhaps no more so than in the legend of the Lorelei--a siren-like singer who lured boatmen too close to the cliffs of a hairpin turn in the river. Many of the castles tell tales, too.
Spence's book isn't written with the flair one might expect of fairy tales. It's more of a collection in the vein of Edith Hamilton's Mythology, leaving some details--fights, embraces, settings--to the mind of the reader. Still, it was a good guide--a jumping-off point for a creative writer like me.
I can't wait to take this with me to Germany next summer. (A download of the text is available on Amazon for 99 cents), where I will share these tales--and more--with my students and friends.
How wonderful, then, when I realized that this book isn't merely about "Germany" but about the "Rhine Valley" in particular, a region that is high on any travel "bucket list" that includes a visit to Germany.
What Spence has done here is to follow the Rhine from Dortmund almost all the way to the Swiss border, a stretch of river which is among the most densely be-castled in the world.
As it turns out, Germany's Black Forest isn't the only spring of fairy tales in the land. While an occasional dwarf or witch pops up in these tales, most of them deal with knights, maidens and the costs of chivalry. Every twist and turn of the river is immortalized in legend, perhaps no more so than in the legend of the Lorelei--a siren-like singer who lured boatmen too close to the cliffs of a hairpin turn in the river. Many of the castles tell tales, too.
Spence's book isn't written with the flair one might expect of fairy tales. It's more of a collection in the vein of Edith Hamilton's Mythology, leaving some details--fights, embraces, settings--to the mind of the reader. Still, it was a good guide--a jumping-off point for a creative writer like me.
I can't wait to take this with me to Germany next summer. (A download of the text is available on Amazon for 99 cents), where I will share these tales--and more--with my students and friends.
More...