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The Saga of the Volsungs Penguin Classics Jesse L Byock Anonymous 9780140447385 Books

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The Saga of the Volsungs Penguin Classics Jesse L Byock Anonymous 9780140447385 Books

I wasn't familiar with the Saga of the Volsungs when I bought this book, recommended by a friend. I had read the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda and enjoyed their great scope and sweep. Here the focus is on one family and its victories, tragedies, betrayals, and revenges. While I was not as enthralled by its story as I was by the Eddas, I've realized since I read it that it brings down to a human scale the mythology and cultural morality I am studying. I am still confused by the ethics and morality of the tale and its time--a good thing; 21st Century people have to reach across more than a dozen centuries to understand these works, written without any knowledge of Christianity.

I've decided to set this book aside for a few months and pick it up again. That says a lot about its value.


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The Saga of the Volsungs Penguin Classics Jesse L Byock Anonymous 9780140447385 Books Reviews

First, I would add that for serious students looking at this work, you are better off starting with Prof. Hollander's translation of the Poetic Edda. That work contains the surviving source material the saga author had access to in English translation. When compared to source material, one can see how the author toned down to some extent some of the mythic and magical aspects of the story.

This is one of the most important stories in Western culture, on a scale with the Illead and Beowulf.

I actually found Byock's translation readable and the introduction and notes were helpful. I don't think it can be a single source for understanding the story, however.

However, I would second the idea that facing page translation formats are probably better for the serious student, and often result in better translations from the original.
The Saga of the Volsungs was written in the thirteenth century by an unknown Norse author. The story itself, however, is much older and parts are found throughout many Norse stories prior to this version. The story tells of Sigurd the dragonslayer, a man unlike any in the world, and unsurpassed in any way. His familial heritage is recounted, as is his marriage with Gudrun and their children, and after his death, the fates of Gudrun, her brothers, children, and many others including Attila the Hun and Ermanaric, King of the Goths.

The value of this saga on literature is enormous. It influenced the German Nibelungenlied, Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, and Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and his recently published The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, among others. Many aspects of the saga are reminiscent in literature - a ring of power; a broken sword that is reforged to perform a specific task; a group of kings and warriors attempting to pull a sword out of a tree with only one person succeeding; a horse descended from Odin's Sleipnir making it one of the best horses in the world; a dragon guarding a vast amount of gold and wealth.

As entertainment, The Saga of the Volsungs is up there, with a wonderful story. Of course, the writing is a bit different than most people are accustomed to, being several centuries old and written much differently than today. While some versions may prove a tad difficult and uninteresting to the casual reader, Jesse Byock does an excellent job making it accessible to the common reader while still staying relatively true to the original.

Aside from the entertainment value of the saga, it offers insight into the world of the Norse and Norse literature such as kennings, which replaced a noun with a circumlocution - "battle-sweat" instead of "blood", "sleep of the sword" instead of "death", "bane of wood" replacing "fire", etc. This specific translation of the saga maintains many of the kennings which liven up the saga and aid in its unique style. And, of course, it offers glimpses of Norse mythology as Odin plays many roles in the story, as do the norns and valkyries, as well as magic runes and Norse sorcery and, humorously, a senna - that is, a contest of insults including this zinger

Sinfjotli replied You probably do not remember clearly now when you were the witch on Varinsey and said that you wanted to marry a man and you chose me for the role of husband...I sired nine wolves on you at Laganess, and I was the father of them all. (As can be surmised, he is speaking to another man)

The Saga of the Volsungs is an entertaining read, and at roughly 110 pages is not very time consuming and offers a quick glimpse into what some of the Norse valued and how they perceived kingship, courtship, and war.
Medieval Icelandic literature is highly variable in quality and comprehensibility, but the Volsung Saga is a masterpiece of the genre, and here it is masterfully translated and presented by Byock. This edition includes extremely useful explanatory notes, a vital glossary of characters, and an introductory essay that is by itself worth the cost of this book.

Like many Icelandic sagas, this is a brooding history of semi-historical kings overshadowed by augers of doom. It exhults in shocking acts of violence that make "Medea" and "Titus Andornicus" seem restrained by comparison. The moral tone is ambivalent and grim, as its heroes slay, conquer, and betray themselves and one another under the watchful eyes and sometimes at the direction of the old Norse pantheon.

The pacing of the work and its frequent evocation of verse reminds the reader of its likely origins as a bardic work. The breathless leap from climax to climax is a bit fatiguing, and this book is best sipped.

If you are considering reading this work to enhance your understanding of Wagner's Nibelungen Ring, you should not hesitate to buy it. This saga informed Wagner's "poem" more than any other source material he consulted, and you'll find most of the principle events included within. Many interpretive puzzles that have baffled me for years were quickly resolved by reading this work; in many cases events that I found puzzling were simply reproduced faithfully from the source material.

To the student of history, mythology, opera, or literature, this book is an excellent and worthwhile read.
I wasn't familiar with the Saga of the Volsungs when I bought this book, recommended by a friend. I had read the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda and enjoyed their great scope and sweep. Here the focus is on one family and its victories, tragedies, betrayals, and revenges. While I was not as enthralled by its story as I was by the Eddas, I've realized since I read it that it brings down to a human scale the mythology and cultural morality I am studying. I am still confused by the ethics and morality of the tale and its time--a good thing; 21st Century people have to reach across more than a dozen centuries to understand these works, written without any knowledge of Christianity.

I've decided to set this book aside for a few months and pick it up again. That says a lot about its value.