El ocaso de los dioses y otros cuentos

by Richard Garnett

El Crepúsculo de los Dioses y Otros Cuentos es una colección de relatos fantásticos de Richard Garnett , generalmente considerada un clásico del género. A pesar de su título, la colección «no tiene nada que ver con los dioses nórdicos, aunque se inspira en todo lo demás, desde leyendas árabes y cuentos de hadas chinos hasta la historia romana y la mitología griega

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Short Stories, Classics, Literature, Mythology, Ebooks

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1888

About the author

Richard Garnett C.B. (27 February 1835 – 13 April 1906) was a scholar, librarian, biographer and poet. He was son of Richard Garnett, an author, philologist (historical linguist) and assistant keeper of printed books in the British Museum, i.e. what is now the British Library.

His son, Edward married translator Constance Garnett, and their son was David Garnett. David's son Richard Garnett was biographer of Constance.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Appollo's lyre has been pawned? A dumb oracle? The Devil becomes pope? Oh, what fun! If Terry Pratchett had been around in the 19th century, I know with whom he would have been hanging. What a priceless little collection of stories this is. Wish Garnett had written more (and a novel or two while he was at it).

[Alex Sarll]

Vicious little fables of philosophers, devils and fools residing somewhere in the little-visited territory between Saki, John Collier and James Branch Cabell. Predating all of the aforementioned, I wouldn't be surprised if Garnett had influenced them - but whereas I normally end up thereabouts through recommendations (less from friends than from other writers), Garnett I encountered more or less by chance, having just read 'The Demon Pope' in an anthology before seeing this collection in the Kindle app's list of free classics. Whether unacknowledged inspiration or simultaneous evolution, either way would perfectly suit Garnett, in whose stories effort is invariably unrewarded and wisdom a curse.

[Ignacio Senao f · Rating 2 out of 5]

Se hace pesado tantos relatos parecidos: algo con problemas (animal o humano) se encuentra con rey, mago o dios. Mediante una situación sin sentido, el inferior acaba demostrando que no todo es el poder, fin.

[Aracne Mileto · Rating 4 out of 5]

* El crepúsculo de los dioses 4 estrellas - 13-05-2020

[Alexa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Las historias me encantaron! Son amenas, de fácil lectura y tan variadas que es imposible aburrirse con ellas. No he podido elegir una favorita pero me han gustado varias. Creo que leeré más del autor.

[Temucano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Son varios relatos eruditos, de finales simples a veces ingeniosos, en que dioses, santos, demonios, papas, alquimistas, filósofos, escritores, se cruzan con hechos históricos singulares, en especial del primer milenio. A mí me agradó, más que nada por la cantidad de información freak de edad antigua, mas queda muy lejos, literariamente hablando, de otras joyas del Ojo sin Párpado.

[Karla Baldeon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review on Spanish.

Este libro me ha subido el ego como no tienen idea. Debido a algo muy personal y particular que es el conocimiento del casi cien por ciento de las referencias históricas y literarias. Al final de cuentas, el conocimiento enciclopédico no sirve más que como conocimiento embotellado para sacar a relucir en alguna ocasión, y no da mayor o menor valor a las personas, pero de todas formas es una pequeña alegría cuando notas que lo tienes.
Lo que ocurre con este libro es que está compuesto por una serie de historias cortas que el autor, Richard Garnett, bibliotecario e, imagino, también acumulador de conocimientos enciclopédicos sin mayor valor, compuso en base a las mitologías, historias y leyendas de diversas partes del mundo sobre personajes más o menos conocidos en la Historia. Pero dio la consecuencia que yo conocía un poco sobre todos estos pintorescos personajes, al menos lo suficiente como para que al leer las notas a pie de página terminara confirmandos sus identidades. Lo cual demuestra que leer sí te abre la puerta a otras civilizaciones a través del tiempo y del espacio. Es una de las formas más libres de viajar con el pensamiento, la cual no me cansaré de recomendar.
En este libro, encontramos referencias a personajes conocidos como Buda, El diablo, Lao Tsé, el oráculo de Apolo, y más mundanos como Constatino, Aureliano, Galieno, Esquilo y más, enfrentando de forma más o menos victoriosa, asuntos mundanos cuya resolución es bastante satírica aunque muy ingeniosa, diría yo. Realmente fue un placer para el ingenio y me subió el ánimo de buena manera.
Lo recomiendo como un libro para cuando queramos reírnos un rato y descansar de lecturas más serias sin, por eso, bajar nuestro nivel de conocimientos, ya que las referencias están muy bien puestas. Puntos adicionales para todos los que, como yo, conocían a la mayoría de personajes conocidos y sabían cómo ubicarlos. Lectura indispensable para todos.

[Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha costado un poco hacer la transición entre historia e historia pero en general me ha gustado mucho. Empezando por el prólogo de T.E Lawrence y encontrándome personajes que ya conocía al menos de oídas. Muy recomendables algunas historias en las que probablemente todo hubiera ido bien si hubiesen escuchado a su maestro.

Y una oreja como por un ojo no es mal trato...

[Mónica Casado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy divertido y crítico. No me esperaba para nada que fuera a ser tan ligero y agradable de leer, ha sido un descubrimiento magnífico. El autor sabe manejar el humor con mucha delicadeza, la ironía es genial. Recomendadísimo.

[Aletheia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesante, pero para tomarlo en pequeñas dosis.

[Nathan Dehoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author was a librarian at the British Museum, and this is a collection of fantasy stories set in many different times and places, often taking cynical views on different religious traditions. They're full of gods, demons, priests, and magicians. There's a good amount of whimsy and satire, and while some of the stories didn't really stick with me, there were definitely moments throughout that worked quite well. The titular tale has Prometheus being freed from his captivity by a young woman in the fourth century, and the two of them dealing with the new religion that's become prominent in the area, and the Titan is made a Christian saint. "The Demon Pope" has a Pope trade places with the Devil, to the approval of the treacherous cardinals. In "The Claw," a magician, Peter of Abano, reveals to a young man that he's under an obligation to procure souls for the Devil, and these have included many members of the clergy. Peter was an actual thirteenth-century physician who was accused by the Inquisition of practicing magic. Also mentioned in two different stories is Michael Scot, a Scottish mathematician and astrologer who had an interest in the occult, and also eventually garnered a reputation as an evil magician. Whether the character from The Office was named after him, I couldn't say. "Alexander the Ratcatcher" has Pope Alexander VIII hire a man to exterminate the rats in the Vatican, and he turns out to be his predecessor Alexander VI (otherwise known as Rodrigo Borgia), who has become the ratcatcher in Hell, and gets rid of the rodents in exchange for a better reputation. "The Rewards of Industry" follows the general structure of a tale about three brothers seeking their fortunes. In this case, they're Chinese, sons of a mandarin, and the ones who spread knowledge of printing and gunpowder to the West are treated with contempt, while the one who's obsessed with chess grows rich. In "Madam Lucifer," the Devil falls in love with a widow, but will lose his reign over Hell if he leaves his wife. The description of Lucifer's wife is amusing: "This lady's black robe, dripping with blood, contrasted agreeably with her complexion of sulphurous yellow; the absence of hair was compensated by the exceptional length of her nails; she was a thousand million years old, and, but for her remarkable muscular vigour, looked every one of them." Now that's what I call a Dis track. "The Talisman" is a pretty funny one, in which a student wizard stops time, arousing the ire of a watchmakers, an almanac writer, and a meteorologist. In order to claim a talisman, the student has to swallow ninety-nine poisons, marry and divorce a salamander, become engaged to a vampire, and sacrifice his mother and sister to the infernal powers. In "The Bell of Saint Euschemon," three saints bicker over which of their church bells is the most important, only to find out that their powers are actually caused by a demon. There's a scene in it with the demon teaching the bell-ringer to play cards, and another with a bishop and a sorcerer playing off each other. And "The Poison Maid" is about a magician who raises his daughter to be incredibly toxic, but she meets her match in a prince who was brought up on a regimen of antidotes.

[Mike Futcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

An original collection of irreverent fables that have unfortunately become rather dated, Richard Garnett's The Twilight of the Gods and Other Tales relies on the nuances of a Classical education that people today just won't have. His stories here – written initially for his own amusement rather than for publication – roll around happily in a mythical mud-pile of Greek myths, Middle Eastern and ecclesiastical motifs, and Eastern theology. From these, Garnett produces a series of his own tales each about 10 pages long, most of which deliver a didactic moral with a fable-like delivery. Think Aesop's Fables with a target audience of Oxford dons.

Normally I would be all for this (though I'm no Oxford don) but, while they're capable enough, Garnett's tales failed to really charm me. It might be the writing, which is very pendulous and conservative; a Victorian style which comes across as quite dull to a modern reader. It might be the storytelling, which is limited; Garnett relies on that stale archetypal delivery of a classic myth rather than a lighter touch that would better bring out his evident humour and mischievous iconoclasm. The result is a hard-baked book that frustrates rather than excites; a book of quality and erudition that can provoke genuine admiration but, for this reader at least, little love.

[Raúl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hubo años de descubrimiento, y muchos de estos se debían a editoriales que cuidaban su fondo con grandes joyas, como Nostromo, la Librería Fausto, la Editora Nacional o la Editorial Siruela. En esta última, colecciones como la de La biblioteca de Babel de Borges, la Selección de lecturas medievales y El ojo sin párpado constituían una mina para despertar el apetito literario más exquisito.
El crepúsculo de los dioses se publicó en esta colección, y antes había sido publicada en Librería Fausto. Sus cuentos hablan de mitología, de realidad y de sueños. Es uno de los libros a los que volvería con la curiosidad de saber si hoy en día disfrutaría tanto de sus cuentos.

[LucianTaylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superb collection of short stories, filled with a lot of humor, and an adventure through different ages and mythologies of humanity

[Kathy Bugar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read

Any well read person will recognize the amazing characters. Delightful and subtle stories were each and every one clever and beautifully written.

[Cam · Rating 3 out of 5]

la idea está bien, pero seguramente si se volviera a escribir en un lenguaje más "coloquial", sería muchísimo más ameno

[Calalo · Rating 3 out of 5]

de aquellos casos en que no todos los cuentos de manera individual reflejan la calificación, pero en conjunto resulta en una antología muy solida, por su coherencia en la gran sátira que es la humanidad y sus ídolos/líderes.

[Mike Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories written in the late 19th century. It was recommended to me by a friend, who thought I would have trouble finding a copy. However, as it turns out, the book can be readily obtained in cheap "public domain" university editions, and is also occasionally reprinted as a seminal work aimed at fans of Gaiman, Ellison, and others like them.

The reason for this is immediately apparent. This reads like Gaiman, about a hundred years earlier. Charmingly weird, amusing and insightful and obviously the product of a mind which had consumed an abundance of information on old gods, fairy tales and other cultures, Garnett sometimes leans toward didactic, but never loses his sense of humor or empathy.

This can wear thin if you read it front to back. Many of the pieces collected in my volume were minor or very similar to other stories in the work (the original edition had 16 stories, mine had 28). However, taken a few at a time over a long period, and with an appreciation for the hosts of authors on which Garnett has had an evident influence, I'm going to go with the high rating for this work.

[Chris Duval · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's an illustrative opening from one of these short, short stories from the late 19th century: "Jupiter: 'Daughter Truth, is this a befitting manner of presenting yourself before your divine father? You are positively dripping; the floor of my celestial mansion would be a swamp but for your praiseworthy economy in wearing apparel.'" Here you see the author's bemused detachment, his willingness to draw on the classics, a style of wording that evokes his era, and some cleverness: here the delivery of Truth's scanty attire through dialog about a wet floor. Not shown here is the author's frequent satirical jabs at hypocrisy and naiveté. He targets particularly religious leaders and is catholic about this: hitting Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, Confucianists and Stoics. Like many of his time, he'll throw in some untranslated Latin from time to time, and some archaic words, but otherwise it's quite an easily taken, and conveniently in small bites.

[Elianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un autor desconocido para mi y un título que me evocaba una historia de fantasía bélica, resultó ser una compilación de relatos narrados como fábulas de época medieval.

Richard Garnett, bibliotecario y conocedor de mitología, historia y leyendas de diversas partes del mundo, hace referencia a personajes como Buda, Lao Tsé, Constantino, Aureliano y otros enfrentándose con aquellas dificultades más bien mundanas y planteando aproximaciones ingeniosas y tipo sátiras, con un toque de fantasía y buen humor.

Quizá no todos los relatos fueron de mi interés y como compilación no me pareció imprescindible, sin embargo me generó gracia las referencias burlescas a la iglesia católica, con cierto humor gris e ingenio mezclado con ingenuidad.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cheerfully, charmingly cynical stories where power invariably seems to corrupt and people are rarely what they seem. Prometheus passes himself off to early Christians as a martyred saint. Cardinals plotting against the Pope change their tune when they become convinced he's the devil (after all, they respect him a lot more). A saint becomes friends with the demon who's secretly working the saint's greatest miracle. A caterpillar refuses to accept that he'll devolve into something as frivolous and useless as a butterfly. The tone is more rueful and world-weary than angry at human folly, which makes it all go down smoother. Free on Gutenberg, but it's also in hard copy.

[S. Spelbring · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a collection of short stories all revolving around supernatural occurrences. Some where of a Christian variety, others were Greek/Roman in origin, and some were Godless. They all had a feeling of myth and fairytale, which is something I like in my reading.

All the stories were different, hand different endings, different characters (some famous), many were based on true life happenings, it was just overall an interesting read.

I do not know if I have a favorite, but the one that sticks in my mind is 'The Poisoned Maid'.

[Rozonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned about this book by mere chance on a bookshop's FB page and I was intrigued by its description. Supernatural tales in a historical setting, with humour and irony? I had to check that out.
And am I glad I did. In Garnett's tales, fine irony and humour are intertwined with poetical descriptions ,and religion, politics, arts, the human condition and other issues are looked at in a satirical yet compassionate light. I was reminded of Heine, Borges, Saki and many other great writers, but Garnett has a very personal style. Great.

[Stuart Aken · Rating 3 out of 5]

The age of this book shows in the writing, of course, much of which is convoluted and authorial in voice. But the tales have a fabulous air about them and are entertaining. There is, of course, a moral behind each and the author's mission to educate the reader comes through rather more strongly than a modern readership would welcome. But I learned a fair amount along the way as I read these tales based on the myths and legends of other civilisations.

[Indra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Divertido y ameno, algunos cuentos están muy chidos y otros se pueden pasar por alto. Los que más me gustaron coincidieron en ser en los que se burlaba de la iglesia católica. Tiene un sentido del humor inteligente, y está escrito a la manera de fábulas o historias antiguas. No es un must-read, pero sí está entretenido.

[R. Scot Johns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought it thinking it was a Norse mythology retelling, but it's actually a version of the Greek Prometheus tale. Well told and beautifully written, but I only read that first tale, as I am currently immersed in studies of Norse myths. Will finish later.

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written in a faux-classical style, this took some reading. Added to the need to have ancient history at your fingertips in order to appreciate the stories, this collection is probably not worth bothering with. Maybe it was more appreciated in an age of greater leisure and better education.

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tales of gods, devils, demons and men; fairy tales, whimsy, morals and death.

[Philip · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dull and messy. Not my cup of tea at all. Endless similar myths with little to connect the tales