Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520069048 ISBN 13: 9780520069046

Publisher: University of California Press, 1992

Synopsis

Published in 1990 by the University of California Press, this 145 page book is 'The Sage of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer' introduced and translated by Jesse L. Byock. About this book: The unknown Icelandic author who wrote 'The Saga of the Volsungs' in the thirteenth century based his prose epic on stories found in far older Nordic poetry. His sources, which may have included a lost earlier prose saga, were rich in traditional lore. The Saga of the Volsungs recounts runic knowledge, princely jealousies, betrayals, unrequited love, the vengeance of a barbarian queen, greedy schemes of Attila the Hun, and the mythic deeds of the dragon slayer, Sigurd the Volsung. It describes events from the ancient wars among the kings of the Burgundians, Huns, and Goths, treating some of the same legends as the Middle High German epic poem, the Nibelungenlied. In both accounts, though in different ways, Sigurd (Siegfried in the German tradition) acquires the Rhinegold and then becomes tragically entangled in a love triangle involving a supernatural woman. In the Norse tradition she is a valkyrie, one of Odin's warrior-maidens. In Scandinavia, during the centuries after the Middle Ages, knowledge of the Sigurd Story never died out among the rural population. Full of supernatural elements, including the schemes of one-eyed Odin, a ring of power, and the sword that was reforged, the tale was kept alive in oral tradition. In the 19th Century, as the Volsung story was discovered by the growing urban readership, it became widely known throughout Europe. Translated into many languages, it became a primary source for writers of fantasy and for those interested in oral legends of historical events and the mythic past of northern Europe. The saga deeply influenced William Morris in the 19th century and J.R.R. Tolkien in the 20th. Richard Wagner in particular, drew heavily upon the Norse Volsung material in composing the Ring Cycle.

About this title

Review:

"Professor Byock is to be thanked for producing an eminently readable English version of the saga which will undoubtedly be well received . . . and which should do much to stimualte interest in the field."--"Saga

About the Author:

Jesse L. Byock teaches Old Norse and medieval Scandinavian subjects at the University of California, Los Angeles and is the author of Feud in the Icelandic Saga (1982).

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0520069048
• ISBN 13: 9780520069046
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 145