Urban Fiction

For this selection I have read American Gods. This plays on many mythological pantheons of gods brought together by Neil Gaiman all trying to protect Shadow from the New Gods. It changes the myths it presents by giving the gods alter-egos such as Odin the All Father being Mr. Wednesday and the Egyptians gods running a funeral parlor in Illinois. This brings a more modern take on these myths because it shows in a way that the gods of the Old World are for lack of a better term, retired and that the New Gods are the beings who are most active in the modern age. And even still the old gods fit into the context of the story very well for example Mr. Wednesday acts fatherly to Shadow because he is the All Father and the Egyptian gods run a funeral parlor because the ancients believed in an afterlife and practiced mummification for the afterlife.

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