If you like the sound and rhythm of words — and if you’re a hopeless J.R.R. Tolkien junkie — you’ll like The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun (2009, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Lacking either of these prerequisites, you probably won’t. And there’s not much more to say than that.Casual Tolkien fans likely won’t buy The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, and even semi-serious fans who have tackled The Silmarillion may lack the appetite for it. It consists of two long poems, around which are sandwiched an exhaustive introduction and a pair of lengthy explications/footnotes, the latter written by Tolkien’s son Christopher. Added together, this additional material is longer than the poems themselves.
The real reward of The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun is its wonderful language. The poems—“The Lay of the Volsungs” and “The Lay of Gudrun”—are composed in eight line alliterative stanzaic metre. Reading them makes me wish I knew the native Old Norse Tolkien of which Tolkien spoke so admiringly; the modern English is pretty darned powerful already.
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ReplyDeleteCasual Tolkien fans likely won’t buy The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, and even semi-serious fans who have tackled The Silmarillion may lack the appetite for it.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the poem is full of good old-fashioned Norse blood & thunder, I'd say their appetites were lacking indeed!
I bought and enjoyed TLoS&G, though like you, not quite as much as CoH, perhaps due to its brevity. Nonetheless, it's still really good.
I enjoyed it alright, It was a very good re-interpretation of those tales, and is probably the one I'd recommend.. to be read in conjunction with the Jesse L. Byock translation of the Volsungasaga..
ReplyDeleteHopefully one of these days we will get whatever of Beowulf Tolkien translated released.. I'm sure theres probably still a good whack of material left to be published.. but it may not be enough of any one thing that anyone feel's it would be saleable.
This is shamefully off-topic, but in regards to the recent debate about nihilism in fantasy, even Yahtzee Crowshaw at the Escapist had something to say in his video game review blog. Just thought you'd be interested.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to find a few fellow readers of this book... I was wondering if I was the only one to enjoy its cadence and rhythms and grim Old Norse ethos. How about that bit with drinking from the skulls of children?
ReplyDeleteDave: Thanks for sharing, that video is spot-on.
Yes, the Women in the Vulsung saga are.. uhh.. Harsh.
ReplyDeleteDrinking from skulls is highly overrated. Everyone always talks about how great it is, but its not very practical.
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