Sabine Baring-Gould was a prolific writer, composer and collector of folklore. Baring-Gould as the composer.īorn in 1834, the Rev. On the 1987 compilation album, among the carols recorded by the then-current crop of rock stars was “Gabriel’s Message,” by Sting. I first came across his name thanks to A Very Special Christmas, of all things. Portrait of Sabine Baring-Gould (Photo credit: Wikipedia) This might not be a problem for the average 19th century parson, but I doubt many modern readers will have as little trouble.Overall, though, this is certainly worth checking out if you have any interest in werewolves in particular or folklore in general.Sabine Baring-Gould is by no means a celebrity today, but in the 19th century he brought a modern sensibility to an ancient body of superstitions: werewolf lore. As a previous reviewer has mentioned, he also neglects to translate many of his quotations from their original languages.
There's a lot of ethnocentrism amd Eurocentrism, (though he does deal with some Eastern myths and one North American tale), and he seems to take the idea of primitivism for granted when he speaks of other cultures. Since Baring-Gould was writing in the 1860's, his scholarship is somewhat dated. The result is a readable, anthropological take on the mythos that sometimes covers surprising ground.The book isn't without fault, though. He's also devoted a great deal of time to historical and judicial records that describe individuals who may or may not have believed themselves to be werewolves or who exhibited werewolf-like behavior. He presents a wide variety of werewolf myths, then puts them in context with some discussion of their cultural and psychological antecedents.
Baring-Gould adopts a pleasing style, and he's structured his arguments well. A detailed examination of the werewolf myth, first published in 1865.This was quite an enjoyable book.
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