Name of the Book (Name of the Series): Die Mythen des alten Japan (German. “The Myths of Old Japan”)
Name of the Author: Nelly Naumann
Genre: Academic Literature
Pages: 320
Date: 22.10.2012 - 23.11.2012
Short description: (Taken and translated from the book itself) Those who like to read stories of gods and demons, heroes and monsters, princes and princesses will find joy in this book. Those who seek knowledgeable introduction in centuries old basics of spiritual and material Japanese culture won’t be disappointed. Those who are hoping for anthropological insights will get a range of suggestions.
Own Statement:
I’ve always been quite into legends and myths, and from the moment when I picked up my first manga – Inu Yasha – I was enormously into Japanese myths, legends and history. Taking this into account, I always tried to school myself a bit on the topic and when I started to study I couldn’t help but grasp the chance of the vast and exhausting libraries that accompany the university I’m in. I really did something that is quite funny to do in a library that has it’s books sorted by their year of publishing and merely wandered through it, looking at books from all kind of field of research and really all but stumbled over this one.
Needless to say that I took it home with me the same day and started reading it along the other books I had. I didn’t get on much, there wasn’t much time at hand, so it took me one month to finish it. But It was really enjoyable. Nelly Naumann is a really good author, she pointed out doubtable points and interesting stories and one notes that she seems to be really passionate about that topic herself. It is, admittedly, a book that was meant for the purpose of studying and I dare say it’s not a book for indulgence. But the knowledge is still broken into digestible parts and I found it to be a real pleasure.
Next to review: The Strange Case of Dr. Jakyll and Mr. Hyde
Rating: 5/7
(1 – Horrible; 2 – Bad; 3 – Disapointing; 4 – Average / fine; 5 – Good; 6 – Very Good; 7 – Excellent)
(Off-topic: I've actually finished book #22 recently, I'm just very much behind on writing and posting statements. I plan to catch up soon though, so bear with me, please.)
