America thinks it’s a monotheistic culture, but it’s not. We worship all sorts of gods, large and small, new and old. The god of cool, the god of literature, the god of music, the gods of commerce, technology, and yes even the god of the Net; these are the new gods.
And we worship these new gods every day with offerings and ritualistic behavior. Oh, stop it, of course you do. When your computer crashes, you have a ritual you follow religiously to revive it. Same with starting your car; maybe not the car you have now, but certainly one you had before. Just what do you think those ball players are doing when they ceremoniously scratch their privates before stepping into the box.
But there’s also a boat-load of old gods, the gods our ancestors brought with them from the old country: old gods like Odin, Loki, Bilquis, Ymir, Tyr, Czernobog and Bialybog, and all the others.
Naturally, there’s a friction between the old gods and the younger upstarts, and the scene is set for Neil Gaiman’s latest novel, American Gods.
Gaiman posits that these gods—both old and new—surround us, and always have. The new gods we create, mostly in our own image; the old gods are remnants from previous generations, transported by the minds of our elders when they came to America. The problem is that the gods are only as powerful as the faith of their believers. As time goes by gods move up and down the cosmic totem pole, relinquishing and regaining power depending on which way the cultural winds blow. Unfortunately for us and themselves, the gods are also a dysfunctional bunch, devolving eventually into a crusty bunch of tired grifters, prostitutes, murderers, and fools.
Eventually the feud between the old and new gods escalates to a war staged at the only place it could be: Rock City. Actually, there’s one other place the battle could be waged—House on the Rock—but Gaiman had already used it as a portal to Valaskjalf.
I don’t much care for science fiction, fantasy, or horror. Fans of these genres will likely find American Gods an exquisite example of their favorite fiction category. It remains to be seen if mainstream readers accept American Gods as serious literature, but I’m certainly looking forward to more. It’s like nothing else I’ve ever read, and it’s easier to grasp if you take the time to decipher the mythological references.
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