The Slavic Myths – Charney Noah (2023)

A Pulitzer-nominated author and one of the great public intellectuals of Slavic culture bring to life the unfamiliar myths and legends of the Slavic world. Slavic cultures span the East Slavs of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, the West Slavs of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, and the South Slavs of the countries of former Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. Yet they are connected by tales of adventure and magic rooted in a common lore. In this first collection of Slavic myths for an international readership, Noah Charney and Svetlana Slapsak combine retellings of ancient stories with nuanced analysis illuminating their place at the heart of Slavic tradition. Though less familiar than the legends of ancient Egypt, Greece and Scandinavia, Slavic mythology contains much that readers will recognize: petulant deities, demons and fairies; witches, including the sinister vestica, whose magic may harm or heal; and a supreme god who can summon storms and hurl thunderbolts. Gods gather beneath the World Tree, reminiscent of Norse mythology’s Yggdrasill, or, after the arrival of Christianity, among the clouds. Vampires and werewolves emerge from the shallow graves of Slavic belief. Through careful analysis and sensitive reconstruction of origin stories, Charney and Slapsak uncover Slavic beliefs before they were distorted by Christian chroniclers and nineteenth-century scholars seeking origins for newly formed nation states. They reveal links with the pantheons of Greece, Rome, Egypt and Scandinavia, as well as with the belief systems of Indigenous peoples in Australia, the Americas, Africa and Asia, drawing out the universal qualities that cross cultures in the stories we tell ourselves.