By Jesse L. Byock
One of many nice books of global literature--an unforgettable story of jealousy, unrequited love, greed, and vengeance. in keeping with Viking Age poems and composed in thirteenth-century Iceland, The Saga of the Volsungs combines mythology, legend, and sheer human drama in telling of the heroic deeds of Sigurd the dragon slayer, who acquires runic wisdom from considered one of Odin's Valkyries. but the saga is determined in a truly human international, incorporating oral stories of the fourth and 5th centuries, whilst Attila the Hun and different warriors fought at the northern frontiers of the Roman empire. In his illuminating advent Jesse L. Byock hyperlinks the old Huns, Burgundians, and Goths with the intense occasions of this Icelandic saga. With its ill-fated Rhinegold, the sword reforged, and the magic ring of strength, the saga resembles the Nibelungenlied and has been a first-rate resource for such fable writers as J. R. R. Tolkien and for Richard Wagner's Ring cycle.
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Extra info for The Saga of the Volsungs (Penguin Classics)
Example text
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 nineteenth 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 nineteenth century and J.
Probably giving their name to the Baltic island of Gotland. By the third century the Goths were inhabiting a region near the Vistula, in present-day Poland, before migrating southeast. By the fourth century the Goths had split into two major groups, the Visigoths, living in present-day Rumania, and the Ostrogoths. How the Ostrogoths acquired their empire and came to dominate the many peoples it included remains a mystery. The Huns fell upon and destroyed the Ostrogothic empire when, around 375, they suddenly invaded the steppes of present-day Russia.
Svanhild Is Married and Trampled to Death under the Hooves of Horses 43. Gudrun Urges Her Sons to Avenge Svanhild 44. Concerning the Sons of Gudrun. The Final Chapter NOTES EDDIC POEMS USED BY THE SAGA AUTHOR GLOSSARY MAPS 1. The world of the Vikings (ca. 1000) 2. Migrations of the tribes central to The Saga of the Volsungs up to the death of Attila the Hun INTRODUCTION 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 Norse poetry.