Our friend Dave Lull has forwarded me the link to the substack of a writer named Brian Heming, who has embarked on a project to re-cast the Odyssey as a Viking saga in Tolkien style.

I have no idea why anyone would want to do this. But here are the chapters.

I bear Mr. Heming no ill will. But I find I rather resent the whole idea.

It takes me back to the 2006 Robert Zemeckis film, Beowulf. I reviewed it on this blog (lost, I believe, in our migration) concluding that “I didn’t hate it.” I didn’t love it either, though. I thought the animation was weird. I thought Angelina Jolie was completely out of place (stiletto heels, seriously?). But my main objection was that the writer, Neil Gaiman, had taken a Germanic saga and turned it into a Greek tragedy. Saga heroes are taken down by fate, Greek heroes by their own fatal flaws.

My point, in case I’m being obscure, is that Greek legend and Germanic legend are different things. Neither is necessarily better than the other, but they are distinct pleasures, like wine and bread, not meant to be confused.

But you may not care about this. There’s no reason why you should. Read the Viking Odyssey, if you like, with my blessing.