MARTIN SHAW

Bardskull is the record of three journeys made by Martin Shaw, the celebrated storyteller and interpreter of myth, in the year before he turned fifty. It is unlike anything he has written before. This is not a book about myth or narrative; rather, it is a sequence of incantations, a series of battles.Each of the three journeys sees Shaw walk alone into a Dartmoor forest and wait. What arrive are stories fragments of myth that he has carried within him for decades: the deep history of Dartmoor itself; the lives of distant family members; Arthurian legend; and tales from India, Persia, Lapland, the Caucasus and Siberia. But these stories and their tellers dont arrive as the bearers of solace or easy wisdom. As with all quests, Shaw is entering a domain of traps and tests.Bardskull can be read as a fable, as memoir, as auto-fiction or as an attempt to undomesticate myth. It is a magnificent, unclassifiable work of the imagination.

Este libro se refiere a la cuestión ¿cómo deberíamos entender la idea de genocidio? El genocidio ha sido un tema central de la política contemporánea en varias ocasiones durante las últimas dos décadas, especialmente por los casos de Bosnia y Ruanda. Su historia tambien ha sido una cuestion controversial en paises como Alemania, Japon y Turquia, a causa de la violencia homicida en las dos Guerras Mundiales, y en Norteamerica y Australia respecto de la violencia temprana contra los pueblos indigenas. El espectro del genocidio arquetipico, el Holocausto nazi, acecha las relaciones del siglo XXI entre israelies y palestinos. En muchos otros lugares del mundo contemporaneo se hacen acusaciones de genocidio y, casi invariablemente, son discutidas. Pocas ideas son tan importantes, pero en pocos casos el significado y la relevancia de un concepto clave cuentan con menor acuerdo

"Fabulous."Dan Richards, author of Holloway"Terrifically strange and thrilling."Melissa Harrison, author of All Among the Barley"A modern-day bard."Madeline Miller, author of CirceThis is a book of literary activism an antidote to the shallow thinking that typifies our age. In Courting the Wild Twin, acclaimed scholar, mythologist and author of Smoke Hole and Bardskull, Martin Shaw unravels two ancient European fairy tales concerning the mysterious wild twin located deep inside all of us. By reading these tales and becoming storytellers ourselves, he challenges us to confront modern life with purpose, courage, and creativity.Martin summons the reader to the "ragged edge of the dark wood" to seek out this estranged, exiled self the part we generally shun or ignore to conform to societal norms and invite it back into our consciousness. If there was something we were meant to do with our few, brief years on Earth, we can be sure that our wild twin is holding the key.After all, stories are our secret weapons and they might just save us.

"A modern-day bard."Madeline Miller, author of Circe and The Song of Achilles"Shaw has so much wisdom and knowledge about the old stories, it emanates from his pores."John Densmore, The Doors"Through feral tales and poetic exegesis, Martin Shaw makes you re-see the world, as a place of adventure and of initiation, as perfect home and as perfectly other. What a gift."David Keenan, author of Xstabeth"I can still remember the first time I heard Martin Shaw tell a story. The tale that emerged was like a living thing, bounding around, throwing itself at us there listening. I had never heard anything like it before."Paul Kingsnorth, Booker shortlisted author of The WakeToday, as we are confronted by not one, but many crossroads in our lives identity, technology, love, seduction, politics celebrated mythologist and wilderness guide Martin Shaw delivers Smoke Hole three ancient myths that serve as metaphors for our world today. Assailed by the seductive promises of social media and shadowed by a pandemic that brought loneliness to an all-time high, Martin argues that we are losing our sense of direction, our sense of self.He invites us to use these stories to help find a commons for the imagination, a place to breathe deeper, feel steadier and become acquainted with rapture. Smoke Hole is a passionate call to arms and an invitation to use these stories to face the complexities of contemporary life, from fake news to parenthood, climate crises, addictive technology and more.

*INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*‘One of the master storytellers of our time’ – Dr Gabor Maté, author of The Myth of NormalFrom one of the greatest storytellers we have (Robert Bly), an urgent invi