The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún: Pre- and Reviews

[fenris1011]

This is great news!

I cannot wait. I love Norse Mythology.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Yep, this is the 'verse' I was talking about. But I couldn't at the time be other than vague and let the cat out of the bag.


Beowulf- well, there are issues surrounding that text, and I don't know if CT has the energy left to address them. There may be a certain hope for The Fall of Arthur, and I've been on him to republish Aotrou and Itroun, since it's not like many of us have ever seen that back number of the extinct Welsh Review.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

I will probably buy and read it, but I am slightly annoyd because it will take up some of the time I wanted to use on reading Saxo, Sven Aggesøn, Arild Huitfeldt and the Sagas
(And Grundtvig's tranlation of Beowulf)

[davem]

Ok, this is the deluxe ed, but I'm assuming publication date for the standard ed is going to be the same - 5/5/9

http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/Conte...px?objId=48715

Many years ago, J.R.R. Tolkien composed his own version, now published for the first time, of the great legend of Northern antiquity, in two closely related poems to which he gave the titles The New Lay of the Völsungs and The New Lay of Gudrún.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 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, 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, and her hideous revenge.Deriving his version primarily from his close study of the ancient poetry of Norway and Iceland known as the Poetic Edda (and from the later prose work the Völsunga Saga), Tolkien employed a verse-form whose lines embody in English the exacting alliterative rhythms and the concentrated energy of the poems of the Edda.This ancient poetry remained a deep force in Tolkien's life's work. Here, at last, is presented the source of the wellspring that would lead to The Hobbit and The Children of Húrin. It is the first full flourishing of a rich narrative style and powerful, dramatic storytelling that was destined to become famous throughout the world.

[LadyBrooke]

I’ll definitely have to get this book then. I love his translations - the ones I’ve got to read at least, which are Sir Ofero, Gawain and the Green Night, and Pearl. The fact that this appears to be his own version of it and not a straight translation can only make it better.

Like many others I would love to see his translation of Beowulf, just to see if it is better (more approachable I guess) than the other translations I’ve seen so far, in the relatively secluded area I live in - in which my only hope of getting a translation of Beowulf may be if it gets published as a book by the Tolkien Estates. But at the same time I can understand that it might be impossible to publish. And hey maybe if they don’t I can do my own translation in a few decades - seriously obsessed language student here.

[davem]

Here's an update on the FOUR alternative editions of Sigurd & Gudrun http://tolkien.co.uk/pages/interestcaptureform.aspx

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Its not another Children of Hurin, certainly. It belongs with Tolkien's translations of Gawain, Pearl & Orfeo

Not exactly. Those were translations of existing Middle English poems. Sigurd and Gudrun are Tolkien's original retellings (in verse) of a pre-existing story, not simply translations of the very confused pieces found in the Poetic Edda and the (prose) Volsungasaga. This would be more like Morris' 'retelling,' except making use of the Old Norse verse-form.