The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún: Pre- and Reviews - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

davem · 03-18-2009, 11:35 PM

And Amazon now has the cover picture. Amazingly it is not illustrated by Alan Lee..........

William Cloud Hicklin · 03-19-2009, 12:19 AM

FWIW, the cover photo is a detail of the 'Sigurd Portal' from the 13th-c. stave church at Hylestad, Norway. The image is Sigurd's horse, Grani, laden with the late Fafnir's treasure.

davem · 05-03-2009, 01:58 AM

Positive , from John Garth http://entertainment.timesonline.co....cle6193162.ece in the Times

& negative (overall - more damning with faint praise because he likes bits of it), from Mark Sanderson http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/b...en-review.html in the Telegraph

& one somewhere in the middle http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1...300839,00.html (likes the poems but not the 'scholarly stuff'

Quote:

It's great fun to read new work from such a beloved author. Unfortunately commentary makes up the majority of "The Legend," becoming a slog as the reader fights through a textbook of sorts to get to the meat. Additional information and clarification is appreciated, but many will find a light skim of the "extra" material sufficient.

Bêthberry · 05-03-2009, 09:47 AM

I suspect that Mark Sanderson of The Telegraph was simply doing his darnedest to work up to a line he couldn't resist.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sanderson review

there is no disguising the fact that everyone involved is simply flogging a dead Norse.

That's a line that would make some Downers proud. However, his premise is rather wrong. Christopher Tolkien was editing and publishing his father's works long before Jackson's film came out, so I doubt that the popularity of the film is what solely motivated this publication. Chances are it would have come out anyway, just likely in a different form, published in a scholarly journal perhaps or a festschrift to the arcane things medieval scholars do (did) rather than in a HarperCollins book.

John Garth's review in The Times is the one for those who know the most about Tolkien the writer and the one which most persuades me that the reviewer knows a bit about what he writes--there's actually a point of view in there that one could have a decent discussion over. But then, I'm not movie-inspired, and Sanderson and Harrison are writing to that crowd.

William Cloud Hicklin · 05-03-2009, 10:46 AM

Sanderson's scurrilous point is rather undermined by the fact that Sigurd and Gudrun were originally prepared for publication in the mid-1980's- years and years before the Jackson movies.

Truth be told, CT is bringing them out now because some of us asked him to.

(Sanderson also betrays his ignorance by calling Gudrun Sigurd's "sister"- she is of course Gunnar's sister and Sigurd's widow.)

William Cloud Hicklin · 05-03-2009, 10:58 AM

Here's another, from a source predisposed to be favorable:

http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/press/...and_Gudrun.php

davem · 05-05-2009, 05:37 AM

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009...rd-gudrun-poem

03-18-2009, 11:35 PM	#1
davem Illustrious Ulair Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties Posts: 4,240	And Amazon now has the cover picture. Amazingly it is not illustrated by Alan Lee.......... __________________ “Everything was an object. If you killed a dwarf you could use it as a weapon – it was no different to other large heavy objects."

03-19-2009, 12:19 AM	#2
William Cloud Hicklin Loremaster of Annúminas Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,330	FWIW, the cover photo is a detail of the 'Sigurd Portal' from the 13th-c. stave church at Hylestad, Norway. The image is Sigurd's horse, Grani, laden with the late Fafnir's treasure. __________________ The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it.

05-03-2009, 10:46 AM	#5
William Cloud Hicklin Loremaster of Annúminas Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,330	Sanderson's scurrilous point is rather undermined by the fact that Sigurd and Gudrun were originally prepared for publication in the mid-1980's- years and years before the Jackson movies. Truth be told, CT is bringing them out now because some of us asked him to. (Sanderson also betrays his ignorance by calling Gudrun Sigurd's "sister"- she is of course Gunnar's sister and Sigurd's widow.) __________________ The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it.

05-03-2009, 10:58 AM	#6
William Cloud Hicklin Loremaster of Annúminas Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,330	Here's another, from a source predisposed to be favorable: http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/press/...and_Gudrun.php __________________ The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it.

05-05-2009, 05:37 AM	#7
davem Illustrious Ulair Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties Posts: 4,240	Christopher Tolkien Q&A http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009...rd-gudrun-poem __________________ “Everything was an object. If you killed a dwarf you could use it as a weapon – it was no different to other large heavy objects."