Reading

Do we have faith because of God, or does God exist because of faith?

This problem is well explained in neil gaiman's novel American Gods.

The author neil gaiman is an important contemporary fantasy literature master. The creative field spans its creative field, including fantasy novels, science fiction novels, horror novels, children's novels, cartoons and lyrics.

In addition, he is a screenwriter, director and producer of movies. His film and TV adaptations, Stardust (directed by Matthew Vaughn in 2007, Douban 7.6), Ghost Mom (freeze-animated by Lycra Studio in 2009, Douban 8.3) and Auspicious omen (a novel co-written with fantasy writer terry pratchett and adapted from American TV series Douban 8.8), are all well received. The film adaptation of a large number of works shows the popularity of neil gaiman in European and American markets.

American Gods has a great influence in Europe and America, and has won many literary awards, including the nebula award and Hugo award. The adaptation of American TV series has also been out for three seasons.

However, such an influential and well-known magic work has not generated such a craze in China as The Lord of the Rings's Game of Thrones, and the discussion about American gods on the Internet is mostly confined to the old fans of Unul Gaiman.

So what kind of work is American Gods? The story background of American gods is that since the beginning of human civilization, people have gathered in North America from all over the world and brought with them all kinds of gods they believe in. Under the protection of these gods, generations of immigrants took root and sprouted in this new continent.

However, times have changed, and a new generation of gods has risen. They are the gods of high technology, media and cars ... people turn to believe them and ignore the gods of the old days.

In Hebrew mythology, the goddess Sheba became a street prostitute; In Slavic mythology, the three sisters and Zoya, the god of darkness, lived by divining and slaughtering livestock. The fire elves in the Middle East are drivers in new york; The god of wisdom in ancient Egypt worked in a funeral home; As for the king of the gods in Norse mythology and the father of Thor, Odin is an old liar.

The strength of the gods comes from the sacrifice of believers. Without believers, old gods lost his divine power and fell from the high altar to the bottom of society. Not satisfied with his failure, Odin is determined to wage a war and compete with the powerful new god for America. Odin found the hero of this book, a black man who just got out of prison and faced his wife's cheating death, and took him on the road of recruiting old gods.

Odin planned the war between old gods and the New God, and all this was Odin's conspiracy. If you think you will see a Marvel comic book "clash of the titans", you will be disappointed. The battle has already ended before it started.

Neil gaiman's view of fantasy literature is:

Fear and fantasy (whether comics or not) are usually considered as escapist literature. Sometimes they can be escapist-a dull, contradictory and unimaginative literary work, which brings rapid catharsis, Conan's dream and easy relief. But they are not always like this. With luck, fantasy will give you a road map-guide you to similar territory, because the function of imaginative literature is to introduce the world we know, but from different angles.

American gods don't sell divine power or magic. In fact, it is a "road novel". The characteristic of highway novels is to reflect the outlook on life and reality through the events and scenery encountered by the protagonist along the way.

It is worth mentioning that neil gaiman is British. Although he has lived in America for many years, he still can't understand American society in his own words. The author describes his creative experience like this:

I want to write America as a mysterious place.

So I decided that although I already know a lot of things in the novel, I should be able to find more, just go out and see what I will find. ..... while writing, I found out why roadside attractions are the most sacred places in America. I found many other paths and moments, which were terrible and enjoyable at the same time, and some of them were just a little strange.

The protagonist's shadow and Wednesday passed through small towns, gas stations, small bars and food stores in the United States, showing the social ills of the United States, the abandonment and forgetting of old beliefs, the confusion of new technologies, the cultural conflict of immigrants and the survival dilemma of the bottom.

For domestic readers, although they have watched many American film and television works since childhood, they actually know little about American society. Therefore, this also explains that American Gods has a certain reading threshold for China people, and it itself lacks the * * * vibration of cultural feelings.

However, we can appreciate Beauty from another angle, which is undoubtedly an exquisite story from the perspective of literary narration. In addition to the hero's road adventure, there are various side stories interspersed, bringing out the old and new gods.

The new god in the novel can be described as a villain, strong, arrogant and cold. In contrast, Old Immortal is more amiable. Readers will unconsciously stand on the side of the old god.

In fact, the old god is not just. Such a story about sacrifice is embedded in the story.

The lakeside town where the hero lives in seclusion is quiet and simple, just like a paradise. However, a woman goes missing here every year. The final truth is that old gods followed the old belief that all the missing girls were sacrificed to the family gods to protect the peace of the town.

Finally, after the murderer died, the shadow said:

"This town is about to change. It is no longer the only beautiful town in a depressed environment, but it will become the same town as other parts of the world. There will be many problems here, some people will lose their jobs, some people will go crazy, more people will get hurt, and many unfortunate and bad things will happen.

There are several short stories in the novel that are independent of the story, which is what interests me most.

For example, the original work about the beech elves coming to America. An English girl named Aisi sent food to Beeches when she was a child, and she will protect her.

When she grew up, Aisi retaliated against the squire family who abandoned her, committed theft, was sentenced to seven years' exile, and lured the captain back to London. Become a skilled pickpocket again. She owes her luck to Beeches' blessing. The story behind it is about crime, escape and crime again, but it doesn't change Aisi's belief.

Finally, AISI finally settled down in America, managed a big farm and raised a large number of children. Finally, he died peacefully with pious faith.

Aisi's story represents the hard life of early American immigrants, because with faith, they can strive to survive on this foreign continent, that is, they created America.

There is also a story about the fire elves in the Middle East. Salem, from Oman, Arabia, was entrusted by her brother-in-law to sell those worthless handicrafts in new york. He is afraid of everything in new york, black people, Jews, crowds and even the sound of cars.

He has almost no orders and spends money quickly. His life is extremely embarrassing, and what is more helpless is that he can't get the support of his hometown people. Until one day, he called a taxi. The driver wears sunglasses and speaks the same Arabic as him. Salim accidentally saw the burning flame in the driver's eyes and remembered the fire elf that grandma told me about.

Two lonely and helpless souls tell each other their helpless experiences. They comforted each other all night in the hotel. Finally, Evelyn Ritter, the fire elf, gave Salim the identity of a driver, and Salim took a new identity and lived in new york.

Salim's story reflects the living conditions of a new generation of American immigrants, who are facing suffocating commercial prosperity and lack of proper belief traditions.

American Gods is a magical work with the background of "lower demons", but some surreal descriptions inserted into reality in the book give the characters a strange and gorgeous aesthetic feeling.

"Look." Zoya? Bolonosinaya said. She raised her left hand and put it in front of the moon. Her thumb and forefinger seem to hold the edge of the moon. Then, gently move your fingers, as if pulling the moon into the sky. At that moment, she really seemed to take the moon off the night sky. But later, the shadow saw the moon still shining in the sky. Zoya? Bolunoshinaya showed him the palm of her hand, holding a one-dollar coin between her index finger and thumb with the head of the Statue of Liberty in sterling silver.

This paragraph is my favorite. Compared with all kinds of indifference and hesitation in the book, this passage is particularly lyrical and beautiful.

If you are a fan of American TV series, reading is highly recommended; If you are also a fairy tale lover, you can't miss this one. Ok, that's all for today.