I hadn’t been to the library “proper” for over two years.
It had been closed for over a year.
It opened earlier a few months ago, and we have been going once every six weeks or so, since then.
I go with my daughter and end up spending all our time in the kids’ section.
I finally ventured in the regular area, just before checking out and leaving, giving myself a few minutes to look and return.
The graphic novel section was one of the three or four possible places within a two-minute radius, and I headed there.
By one of those strange acts of serendipity, I was led to a single book there, “The Ring of Nibelung”.
Wait, I thought, that one?
I should mention I was only vaguely aware of this before picking it up. I knew of the opera, but no specifics.
My closest exposure, as I expect it to be for others too, was to have come across The ride of the Valkyries by way of Apocalypse Now.
I’ve read the first odd-dozen pages now, and … this is amazing.
More than the story itself, I see echoes, in terms of names, and scenes and themes, which remind me of that other epic saga, The Lord of the Rings.
I have no way of judging how closely this hews to the original, but such a chasm of time separates each of these works!
- I am reading this today, in the year 2021.
- The graphic novel was first published as a comic series about two decades ago, in 2000.
- The Lord of the Rings was published about seven decades ago, between 1955–65.
- The first production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen was about fifteen decades ago, in 1876.
It’s good stuff 🙂
Abacus Noir 