The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún - Hardcover

Tolkien, J. R. R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 000731972X ISBN 13: 9780007319725

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2009

Synopsis

Deluxe edition limited to 500 copies worldwide, signed by Christopher Tolkien. Containing a facsimile page of original manuscript, it is hand-bound in goat-skin and features raised spine ribs; the pages are edged in gold. The book is housed in a matching leather traycase lined in real suede and protected in its own shipping carton.

In the Lay of the Völsungs is told the ancestry of the great hero Sigurd, the slayer of Fáfnir most celebrated of dragons, whose treasure he took for his own; of his awakening of the Valkyrie Brynhild who slept surrounded by a wall of fire, and of their betrothal; and of his coming to the court of the great princes who were named the Niflungs (or Nibelungs), with whom he entered into blood-brotherhood. In that court there sprang great love but also great hate, brought about by the power of the enchantress, mother of the Niflungs, skilled in the arts of magic, of shape-changing and potions of forgetfulness.

In scenes of dramatic intensity, of confusion of identity, thwarted passion, jealousy and bitter strife, the tragedy of Sigurd and Brynhild, of Gunnar the Niflung and Gudrún his sister, mounts to its end in the murder of Sigurd at the hands of his blood-brothers, the suicide of Brynhild, and the despair of Gudrún. In the Lay of Gudrún her fate after the death of Sigurd is told, her marriage against her will to the mighty Atli, ruler of the Huns (the Attila of history), his murder of her brothers the Niflung lords, and her hideous revenge.

Deluxe edition limited to 500 copies worldwide, signed by Christopher Tolkien. Containing a facsimile page of original manuscript, it is hand-bound in goat-skin and features raised spine ribs; the pages are edged in gold. The book is housed in a matching leather traycase lined in real suede and protected in its own shipping carton.

About this title

Review:

“Will appeal strongly to readers already haunted by the deeper, more sombre musics of Middle-earth” The Times

“This is the most unexpected of Tolkien’s many posthumous publications; his son’s ‘Commentary’ is a model of informed accessibility; the poems stand comparison with their Eddic models, and there is little poetry in the world like those” Times Literary Supplement

“The compact verse form is ideally suited to describing impact... elsewhere it achieves a stark beauty” Telegraph

About the Author:

J.R.R. Tolkien was born on 3rd January 1892. After serving in the First World War, he became best known for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, selling 150 million copies in more than 40 languages worldwide. Awarded the CBE and an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Oxford University, he died in 1973 at the age of 81.
Christopher Tolkien is the third son of J.R.R. Tolkien. Appointed by J.R.R. Tolkien to be his literary executor, he has devoted himself to the publication of his father’s unpublished writings, notably The Silmarillion and The History of Middle-earth. He lives in France with his wife Baillie.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 000731972X
• ISBN 13: 9780007319725
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384
• Editor: Tolkien Christopher