Walking a Winding Path

It hurts to give this study a 4.5/5 rather than a full five stars - because really this book I consider far more important to read than any other I've so far reviewed on this blog, and far more substantial at that. But, in being so substantial, I suppose there is more room for there to be flaws. It was my first time reading this book cover to cover after years of referencing it digitally, and I'm very happy to have been able to get my hands on a second-hand copy.

The Road to Hel is one of the most important interdisciplinary works of literature ever written for the study of pre-Christian Scandinavian religion, in my opinion. Ellis was one of the first to combine the study of archaeology with the study of Old Norse-Icelandic literature in the pursuit of thus forming a more complete picture of the Norse conception of death before Christianity. Moreover, she was one of the great inspirers of a more conservative, conversational, comparative approach to the field, such that her own works still are and read as incredibly current. And, indeed, she was a female scholar of religion: a perspective that is still incredibly necessary, but was even more so at the time.

Having been written for Ellis' PhD between 1940 and 1942, The Road to Hel does have its dated aspects. In particular, though worth reading, the first chapter covering the archaeological evidence has been called outdated and misinterpreted. Archaeology isn't my personal strength, however, so I can't much speak on it beyond warning potential readers that its contents do not hold up very well aside from painting a picture of how archaeology was performed and interpreted at the time. The field of archaeology has undergone major developments since the second world war and I highly recommend reading more current authors and works to learn about Viking age and Vendel period funerary customs.

Other highly dated aspects are fewer, and also mostly contained to the first chapter. In particular I want to point out those old-fashioned notions of primitivism that show up in literature of this time: it is assumed that the natural tendency of humans is to become more intelligent and more 'developed' the more their society resembles highly organized and urbanized "civilization." In her first chapter Ellis briefly questions the 'mentality' of heathens, and suggests that "there is possible contact with other peoples at different mental stages to be considered," a habit very typical of Folklore Society fellows (of which Ellis was one), and explains the fixation on and often baseless comparison of Northern European religion with Egyptian and Greek religion, as well as the assumption that ancient heathens can reasonably be compared to, for example, indigenous SEAsians, seemingly purely on grounds of being 'primitive'. Similarly and not unrelatedly there is also the consistent emphasis on 'fertility' even in seemingly inappropriate contexts, though Ellis herself seems to take a step back from that very thing later in the book, and the acceptance of such things as a 'sun cult' as undeniable truths without much question.

As is common for studies of the time, Ellis also tends to paint quite a linear and flat image of Old Norse religion, in the sense that it is always assumed that one belief system necessarily evolves from the other, and two different types of religion (e.g. a fertility cult and a death cult) could not have co-evolved and co-existed. I tend to blame this on the fact that authors at the time did not have much of an appreciation for the animistic nature of pre-Christian religion yet, and relied heavily on Christo-secular structures through which to interpret and organize religion, leading to one-dimensional, linear narratives. An ecological approach to and perspective on pre-Christian European religion is still well outside of the scope of historians at this time.

But, for all those flaws, the rest of the book is invaluable even for a modern reader. The language used is very accessible for how old it is and still easy to comprehend, so the book reads away fairly easily. The entire thing is very concise, the actual body of the work being exactly 200 pages and no more, and Ellis crams all the pertinent information into those pages without making it overwhelming. The chapters are structured well, the introduction and conclusion both are helpful and waste no words. Her approach to the entire subject is deeply refreshing, and must have been even more so when the work was current: she makes no effort to dismiss other theories in favor of putting forth her own originals, but rather compares previous scholarship, elaborates upon it, and aims to close her study with open-ended suggestions, rather than conclusive statements. The broad outlines of said suggestions are still well-received and accepted by scholars today and will presumably continue to hold up and be built from for quite some time.

In between examining funerary customs and afterlife conceptions, she bridges the gaps between these subjects by also covering such related subjects as soul cosmology, necromancy, death cultus, ancestor and rebirth conceptions, cross-cultural exchange and comparative religion, and, as the title suggests, the journey to the realm of the dead. In doing so she provides a very complete image of exactly what evidence the sagas, eddas, and archaeological material provide us with, and wraps it up satisfactorily. It feels very easy to jump from this book to any other given text on related subjects, and as any good textbook ought to do it's made me want to reread some of my other books with the context that reading this cover to cover has provided. I would say, even, that this has proven a better sitdown read than it has a reference work, but that's certainly not to understate its value as a reference work.

Ellis' perspective as a female author is very welcome, especially in comparison to her male contemporaries. Her approach to the field in general was quite revolutionary and very inspiring, but she also includes footnotes and commentary on the literature that male authors might not think to or want to, such as her thinly veiled distaste toward Ibn Fadlan's fascination with sexual assault - which she proposes may in fact be a creative liberty on his part, with her reasoning to explain why.