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Audiobook edition · 9 h 3 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens to the gods when the world no longer needs them?
In The Twilight of the Gods, and Other Tales, Richard Garnett brings ancient pride face to face with change. In the title story, the rise of a new faith leaves the old divinities facing an uncertain place in the world. Their habits and worries become material for dry comedy.
Elsewhere in the collection, figures from Greek and Roman myth, early Christian history and old legend meet life's awkward demands. Philosophers, scholars and men of religion find wisdom colliding with desire or chance. Writing in the tradition of Lucian, Garnett gives these encounters a quiet wit with a dark edge.
What you’ll discover
- Gods with human worries Meet ancient divinities whose pride and habits make their uncertain future sharply comic.
- Wisdom meets ordinary life Watch lofty ideas lose their footing when desire and chance enter the picture.
- A sting beneath the wit Discover dark humour that works quietly, leaving serious questions beneath the joke.
- Old legends, odd situations Find familiar worlds of myth and belief turned toward strange, dryly funny encounters.
- Learning worn lightly Enjoy exact words and balanced sentences that carry irony beneath their calm surface.
Who will love it
Readers who love myth retold with a smile, fans of Lucian and Anatole France, and anyone who enjoys devils, popes, emperors and philosophers brought down to earth in brisk, clever stories.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Prometheus wakes mortal in a Christian world
- Old gods fall, but their ideas survive
- Two tales of seekers who forge and fake
- Ananda breaks his master's one rule
- Philosophers and a Pope meet worldly trouble
- Courtiers, cupbearers and clever disciples
- Dukes, ghosts and a very old ratcatcher
- Short comedies of luck, love and bargains
- What the whole book is about and how it speaks
Who’s who
- ElenkoThe last priestess of Apollo in Caucasia, who lies to protect the stranger she loves.
- PlotinusThe Platonist philosopher who founds a city of sages and keeps falling into trances while it falls apart.
- GerbertA clever student who becomes Pope Silvester the Second and tries to outwit the Devil.
- LuciferThe Devil, who appears in several tales hoping for a soul, a cardinal's hat or a lovely wife.
- MantoThe prophetess of Mantua who proposes the dead poet Virgil as the city's ruler.
- Alexander the EighthThe aging Pope of 1689, who must deal with a plague of rats and a very strange ratcatcher.
- AnandaBuddha's apostle who breaks the rule against miracles and finds himself in deepening trouble.
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- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Il crepuscolo degli dèi e altri racconti in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Il crepuscolo degli dèi e altri racconti
by Richard Garnett · 1888
A freed Prometheus meets a priestess while a Pope borrows the Devil's help to outwit his cardinals.
Challenging5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What happens to the old gods when people stop believing in them? Richard Garnett answers with a collection of short satirical tales that mix myth, history and legend.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Prometheus wakes mortal in a Christian world
The title tale opens in the fourth century. An eagle falls dead, the chains of Prometheus snap, and he lands on a meadow as a hungry, ordinary man. The first person he meets is Elenko, the last priestess of Apollo in Caucasia, who is fleeing a mob.
The mob belongs to the new Christian rulers, and it is smashing her temple. To save the stranger, Elenko tells the crowd that he is a very early martyr and converted her. A shrewd bishop smells a miracle, renames the stranger Desmotes, and starts collecting relics. Elenko becomes his only interpreter, composing pious statements in his name.
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What is The Twilight of the Gods and Other Tales about?
It is a collection of satirical short stories by Richard Garnett. Gods, philosophers, emperors, popes and devils meet in myth and history, and each tale mocks a human weakness such as vanity, greed or the wish to live forever.
Who is Prometheus in the title story?
He is the Titan of Greek myth who gave fire to humankind and was chained to a mountain. In Garnett's story he is freed, becomes mortal, and finds that the world has moved on to Christianity.
Do I have to know mythology to enjoy these tales?
The tales explain themselves through lively scenes and quick dialogue. A little knowledge of Greek myth, Rome or the Middle Ages adds extra jokes, but each story stands alone and is easy to follow.
The author
Richard Garnett
1835–1906 · British scholar and writer
British scholar, librarian, biographer and poet.
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