p. 342
"The swallowing of the sun by a monster is a wide-spread myth.
Iranian mythology has a parallel to the mighty winter in its
eschatology — the devastation caused by the rain of Malkōsh,
when most of mankind die of excessive cold, snow, and famine.
Rydberg and others regard the Iranian and Eddic myths as
examples of an old Indo-Germanic belief. The belief in the
world’s destruction by water and fire existed among the Celts,
apart from Christian influence. There are classical references
to this belief among the Celts, and it exists in native Irish
documents."
1930
Charles W. Stork
Anthology of Swedish Lyrics from 1750 to 1925
"The first author to be considered is not wholly or even
princably a realist. Viktor Rydberg (1828-1895) was of humble
extraction. he had a hard
struggle to satisfy the
thirst for learning which was a leading passion of his life, but
he finally attained distinction in several fields of
scholarship. His first creative literary work was done in the
historical novel and it was not until late in life that he found
the finest expression of his genius in lyric poetry. Rydberg is
primarily a classic idealist; he treats the great questions of
humanity with a clearness and loftiness of purpose which reminds
us of Matthew Arnold. We cannot escape the feeling that Rydberg
is a greater poet than Arnold; less bookish, less cold, less
mournfully aloof. It has been said with much truth by a recent
critic, Mrs. A. B. Fries, that Rydberg has the philosophy of
Emerson, the optimism of Browning, and the music of Shelley. He
has a singularly noble philosophy of life, but somehow he has
also the ability to bring Inspiration close to the general mind.
His literary sources were many. He was a classicist and had a
deep knowledge of the Bible; he made a fine translation of
Goethe's Faust, and was notably affected by the lyrical music of
Poe, whose "Raven" he rendered successfully into Swedish verse.
Then, too, there is a manliness in Rydberg's voice which makes
the notes carry. His ideas are not the shadows of others, they
are his own strong conviction. All of this is imparted in a
style that is well-nigh perfect in its appropriateness and
finished -- beauty. To the lover of "poetical poetry" Rydberg
must rank with the greatest names of the century, but he is ~
also a master of simpler themes. In such poems as "The
House-Goblin" (Tomten) and "The Bathing Children" he gives us
intimate pictures of Swedish country life, which to some will be
worth more than all of his more abstract and symbolic pieces. In
the originality and forcefulness of his imageryv Rydberg marks
an important advance in Swedish poetry."
1930 Anna Maria Roos
The
Possibility of Miracles
p. 132 "In his 'Investigation of Pre-German
Mythology,' Viktor Rydberg states that, according to
pre-Germanic
conceptions, the human individual is composed of six
elements. In addition to the body and its internal functions
there was the blood
... Viktor Rydberg further remarks, basing his
statement on numerous quotations that, " at the epoch of
death the elements of human nature are separated. The vegetative
and the animal matter remain on the earth, the spirit and the
intelligence are led to the judgment seat where, after death,
all receive judgment. But not formless do the dead
descend to the world below. They descend in the form of their
litr."
p. 185 "And after the narrative of one of Christ's miracles
we read — as has been pointed out by the eminent Swedish
scholar, Viktor Rydberg — that people rejoiced " because
such power was given unto men"
1930 Germanistische Handbibliothek
Fragmente mythologischer lieder in Snorra-Edda.
... Vgl. Müllenhoff, Zs. fda 30, 253 ff.;
V. Rydberg, ...
1930 E.G.
Clark
The Right Side of the Franks Casket
Publications of the Modern Language Association of
...
"... Again I quote from Rydberg (ibid., p. 271): The goddess of
the lower world, and particularly of
its domain of bliss, was in the mythology ... In a local sense,
the name Hel could be applied partly
to the whole lower world, which rarely happened, partly to Urd's
and Mimer's realms of ...
Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics
James Hastings, Louis Herbert Gray, John ... – 1932
"Darmesteter, Rydberg, and Grimm belong to
the 'conservative' school, while Mogk and Meyer are very
critical with reference to the contents in much of the Icelandic
literature, particularly in ..."
1932
Johan Alfred Götlind
Viktor Rydberg och Västgöta landsmålsförening
1933
Gudmund Schütte,
Jean Young
Our
Forefathers, the Gothonic Nations
Volume 1 - p. 33
"As V.
Rydberg owns in his Undersökningar i germanisk mytologi, 1886,
I, 95: 'Goth-thjod' is the 'Germanic people' and the 'Germanic
land', the ethic subsoil always remains sufficiently clear."
|
Rydberg
erkannte die Identitat Yimas mit dem
germanischen Gotte Balder, und sah in
der iranischen und der germanischen
Oberlieferung Reste ... Wenigstens
ist in unsrer altesten Quelle, dem
Rigveda,
von der Identitat Yamas mit einem der
... |
|
1933 Jan deVries
The Problem of Loki
“The resemblance between Loki and
Prometheus, which indeed cannot be denied, was mostly considered
to be a proof of his character as a fire-god, even going back to
the Aryan period. The sagacious Swedish scholar V. Rydberg
argued in the same way, considering him only more
particularly to be connected with the heavenly fire, the
lightning; this seems to be shown by the etymological meaning of
the names Byleistr and Farbauti both parents of Loki.”
[Byleist is actually a brother of Loki]
1934 Donald A. MacKenzie
Teutonic Myth and Legend
This book is a partial retelling of the Old
Norse mythic epic based on UGM1 (Teutonic Mythology, translated by
Anderson). However, MacKenzie has made
some significant changes, such as combining Loki and Lodur. He
clearly did not have benefit of volume 2 of Rydberg’s work,
which leaves great holes in his ability to arrange and tell the
myths.
1934 Sven Lönborg
Från Viktor Rydberg Goteborgstid
1935 E. G. A. Sandstedt
Viktor Rydberg och kristendomen
1935 Olle Holmberg
Viktor Rydbergs Lyrik
1936 Lärdomshistoriska
samfundet
Lychnos: Lärdomshistoriska samfundets årsbok
Det är fascinerande läsning att följa hur
Rydberg alltmer uppslukas av sitt intresse för den nordiska och
jämförande indo-europeiska religionshistorien, samtidigt som
hans vettenskapliga ambitioner att finna och formulera den
helttäckande formelen växer. Under sitt arbete med kålltexterna
kommer....
"It is captivating reading to follow how
Rydberg increasingly devoured by his interest in the nordic and
comparing the Indo-European history of religion....
1937 Frederika Blankner
Scandinavaian Literatures
"Inseperable from the figure of Snoilsky is the author
Viktor Rydberg (1828-95), he, too, a representative of the
moribund romantic idealism.
In his novel Singoalla (1858) he sings 'the last free song
of romanticism' All the events of this famous novel atre poised
between reality and dream. between the real and the fantastic.
The double life of the cavalier Erland, Christian and husband of
the blonde Elena by day, pagan by night and lover of the
beautiful gypsy Singoalla, is an ultraromantic motif, which
brings to mind some of the tales of Hoffman and of Theophile
Gautier...."
1939
F.S. Cawley
The
Figure of Loki in Germanic Mythology
Harvard
Divinity
School
"...but maintains that he acquired broader
functions in the course of his development as shown in the Old
Norse sources: a god of water (his offspring Fenrir connected
with fen), a god of the air (his by-name Loptr). A little later
Viktor Rydberg, starting with the likeness of Loki to
Prometheus, represents him as a fire-god going back to Aryan
times. In an etymological interpretation of the names
Byleistr..."
.
1939 Royal Meteorological Society (Great
Britain)
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
"The
atmosphere was regarded as an ethereal ocean which surrounded
the home of the gods (Asgard), an ocean with strong currents.
"Thrund the air river roars" says Grimnismal"to the noisy crowd
of sword-fallen men the current seems too strong to wade
through. Therefore, though the horses of the gods could swim
this ocean, the preferred to use the bridge Bifrost on their
journeys to the earth. The Younger Edda states that Bifrost was
the rainbow, but Rydberg and Vigfusson
(Rydberg, 1889) have shown that originally it was the Milky Way."
1939 Sven
Lönborg
The
Chronology of the Platonic Dialogues.
"According to these statistics, then, these
dialogues belong to the two final old age groups.
But, according to the same statistics, neither the Timaeus nor
the Critias can be included in either of the groups since the
expression in question is nowhere to be found in these
dialogues."
"there are many things to be considered
before drawing any conclusions from the linguistic statistics,
otherwise one may be led astray. Let us assume, for example,
that we know nothing of Victor Rydberg's development, merely
having before us his works. ..."