# Recommend me books/films about mythological & folk tricksters **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 22, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-films-about-mythological-folk-tricksters/629072 "2012-07-22T20:29:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-films-about-mythological-folk-tricksters/629072/21 "2012-07-24T13:46:23Z")
> [@Imago](#): > > Thanks for weighing in on _Anansi Boys,_ Samp. I’ve been debating whether to invest the time in reading that. It’s the one I was going to mention. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-films-about-mythological-folk-tricksters/629072/22 "2012-07-24T13:52:56Z")
The Odyssey. The Man of Many Turns is still one of the best tricksters. Philip Jose Farmer’s World of Tiers features Kickaha who is no mean trickster. I think the first of the series, \*The Master of Universes \*is the best . I may be biased, though, because it’s the first science fiction novel I read. You might want to check out two of the major charachters in Poul Anderson’s Poleseotechnic League series. Nicholas van Rijn appears in the collection \*Trader to the Stars \*and the novels \*The Man Who Counts \*(the best), _Satan’s World_, and _Mirkheim_. Commander Sir Dominic Flandry appears in the collections \*Agent of the Terran Empire \*and \*Flandry of Terra \*and the novels _Ensign Flandry, A Circus of Hells, The Rebel Worlds, A Knight of Ghost and Shadows_, and _A Stone in Heaven_. The latter is not very good, IMO, but the rest are worth reading. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-films-about-mythological-folk-tricksters/629072/23 "2012-07-24T14:00:18Z")
Does it have to be a supernatural figure? Because thinking of examples in Spanish literature, there’s a whole genre called “novelas picarescas” (“rogues’ tales”) whose main character is a trickster, con man, thief, and all-around rogue, living by his wits in a world where every single bet is stacked against him. [This link](http://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Picaresque-Novels-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140442111/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&qid=1343138269&sr=8-24&keywords=quevedo) is to a Penguin book containing English versions of the two foremost examples, _El Lazarillo de Tormes_ and _El Buscón_. Quite a few of those in English too, but kick me if I can remember any specific examples now :smack: ---
**Author:** ![hildea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ebca7d/32.png) [@hildea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hildea)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-films-about-mythological-folk-tricksters/629072/24 "2012-07-24T17:30:22Z")
Barry Hughart: [Bridge of Birds](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15177.Bridge_of_Birds), and the other books about Number Ten Ox and Master Li Kao (who has a slight flaw in his character). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-films-about-mythological-folk-tricksters/629072/25 "2012-07-24T17:54:18Z")
A cetrtain Doper has argued here that Bugs Bunny is our Cultural Trickster, and tried to find if he is rooted in other, previous Trickster Rabbits: [http://www.teemings.net/series\_1/issue12/calmeacham.html](http://www.teemings.net/series_1/issue12/calmeacham.html) ---
**Author:** ![Imago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@Imago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imago)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-films-about-mythological-folk-tricksters/629072/26 "2012-07-24T19:20:16Z")
_scribbles down list of previous recs_ > [@Nava](#): > > Does it have to be a supernatural figure? Because thinking of examples in Spanish literature, there’s a whole genre called “novelas picarescas” (“rogues’ tales”) whose main character is a trickster, con man, thief, and all-around rogue, living by his wits in a world where every single bet is stacked against him. [This link](http://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Picaresque-Novels-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140442111/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&qid=1343138269&sr=8-24&keywords=quevedo) is to a Penguin book containing English versions of the two foremost examples, _El Lazarillo de Tormes_ and _El Buscón_. > > Quite a few of those in English too, but kick me if I can remember any specific examples now :smack: Doesn’t need to be a supernatural figure at all. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-films-about-mythological-folk-tricksters/629072/27 "2012-07-25T01:41:45Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > Beat me to it 🙂 And yeah, Ananzi Boys will hit the spot as well. I’ll add another voice in favor of _ **Coyote Blue.** _ How about Dr. Seuss, _ **The Cat in the Hat?** _ I don’t think that rogues are in quite the same category as tricksters. Mostly because I kinda understand rogues, but I don’t “get” tricksters. Two Folklore books with a fair number of trickster stories: _ **Northern Tales: Traditional Stories of the Eskimo and Indian Peoples** _. Ed. by Howard Norman _ **The Manitous: The Spiritual World of the Ojibway** _ by Basil Johnson ---
**Author:** ![Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speak_to_me_Maddie)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-films-about-mythological-folk-tricksters/629072/28 "2012-07-25T02:54:16Z")
I just finished [The Lost Gate](http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lost-gate-orson-scott-card/1100051349), by Orson Scott Card. It is about Loki, or a variation thereof. I enjoyed it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-films-about-mythological-folk-tricksters/629072/29 "2012-07-25T12:06:29Z")
Lester Del Rey’s **Day of the Giants** has a (then) present-day guy meeting Loki. And it came out in 1959, just before Marvel comics started reshaping our image of the Norse Gods. For a wonderfully wacky take on Loki and the Norse Gods read Jane Sibley’s **Norse Myuthology According to Uncle Einar** > **[Amazon.com: Norse Mythology...According to Uncle Einar: 9780738844190: Sibley,...](https://www.amazon.com/Norse-Mythology-According-Uncle-Einar/dp/0738844195)** > > Amazon.com: Norse Mythology...According to Uncle Einar: 9780738844190: Sibley, J.T., Sibley, Jane T.: Books [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-books-films-about-mythological-folk-tricksters/629072.md?page=1)