The Land of the Green Man

Well written, good easy read

Larrington explores the Great Britain of myth and legend. She illustrates how locals explained such mysteries as birth and death, the weather and terrain by creating giants, selkies, fairies and other mythical creatures. A delightful and entertaining read.

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley.

There is one thing wrong with this book. Let’s get it out of the way first. How can you write a book that deals with English Folklore, that mentions the influence on modern writers, and yet not mention, even in passing, Terry Pratchett? It’s true that there is already a book about Discworld and folklore, but still. It’s like this huge turtle hanging over the book.
That aside, this book is pretty good. Larrington details various folklore and legends of the countryside. The book is more than just the Green Man, but also fairies, selkies, and ghostly dogs. Larrington’s retelling of the various tales is solid, and she includes varieties. What is particularly interesting is her analysis of various tales.
She is able to connect selkie tales to marriage stories and how a woman might view marriage. In fact, if you have read Gould’s Spinning Straw Into Gold, Larrington’s book makes an good companion read. Larrington’s anaylsis adds another level to the idea of the Beauty and the Beast as tale preparing women for marriage. Additionally, her reading of the Finn saga, and in particular Sadb, is actually pretty mind blowing. It made me want to re-read the stories with her analysis in mind.
Larrington also connects the stories to modern work. If you are fan of Neil Gaiman, this book is worth reading for her gets several pages. Less popular authors and works get credit too, and there is a good chance that you will want to track down a newspaper article or two.
All in all, this is a good book about folklore connected to the landscape.

Carolyne Larrington's book explores, in a well informed way, the richness of the folklore of Great Britain. There is an effective informative introduction as to what the book is about and what will be covered. This book is literary ranging very widely from Tolkien to Game of Thrones & Harry Potter with many in between. It takes a deep look into the myth and legends of mostly the British Isles, though touching on other areas, frequently comparing with literature ancient & modern.

Taking the chapter "Black Dog" as an example, Essex, East Anglia, Winston Churchill, Nick Drake, a local folk group, Jersey, Conan-Doyle, Dartmoor, the Welsh borders, Mark Gatiss,  Harry Potter all manage to get into the early part of the chapter.  After that the author ranges far more widely on the general topic and related topics. My copy was a prepublication copy however the index seemed to be pretty comprehensive as would be essential and very useful in such a book.

This was a delightful read for anyone interested in the folklore of Great Britain and also the use of that folklore in literature. My feeling having finished the book is that I need to start it again and allow myself a deeper immersion in it.

The Land of the Green Man was extremely informative- I learned about countless new myths and faerie tales that originate in the British Isles. I can see this being a great supplemental text for literature or even history courses. It's not really what I would read for fun, but there is a wealth of information.

A well-written and useful compendium for those interested in folk and fairy tales of the British Isles. This is definitely a book I'd buy for my own library, as it provides a good blend for research purposes for authors.

An intriguing look at the Green Man and the myths/folklore of the British Isles. Especially love all the literary references!