The Broken Goddess

By Hans Bemmann

Book Overview

After giving a lecture on the contemporary relevance of fairy tales, a skeptical young scholar leaves the hall and steps into a living fairy tale. This is a wondrous story of knowledge versus faith, of the power of imagination and the consequences of cynicism. From the author of The Stone and the Flute.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451454871
• ISBN13: 9780451454874
• Release Date: December 1995
• Publisher: Roc
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Funny, Poignant, and Profound

Are these fairy tales "true"? As the protagonist stumbles through a landscape of half-familiar fairy tales and hilariously-debased Roman gods in search of his transformed lover, he (and we) begin to realize the difference between worshipping a perfect ideal and loving an imperfect human being. With all the authors delving into folklore and marchen these days, Bemmann's approach to the material is surprisingly fresh and touching. One of my all-time favorite books, and one that I've recommended to all my friends.

A beautiful novel of myth and folktale.

This is a wonderfully gentle exploration of how myth and folktales function as real parts of our lives. An intellectual college professor meets a beautiful woman at a convention and, in his growing infatuation with her, is plunged into a series of strange experiences proving the reality of the stories that he's studied as only dry subject matter for dissertations. Growing through his comic and frightening experiences, he is mature enough to at last approach the woman and begin to love. It's a well-done story, with that happy blending of reality, the magical, and the power of story that makes movies like "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" so moving.