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The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology
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Reading Recommendations > Which edition of Norse myths?

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message 1: by Robert (new)

Robert Wright (rhwright) | 130 comments Watching Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen, I decided it was finally time to dig into some of the Norse mythology & German folklore that inspired it and Wagner's Ring cycle.

Trouble is, there seems to be so many editions of these texts.

Looking for recommendations for editions of:
the Norse Edda
Völsungasaga
The Thidrekssaga
the Nibelungenlied

Needs to be an English translation (though not necessarily modern).
Should be a "good"/respected translation.
Cheaper is better, but not required.
Doesn't have to be scholarly, but if it has supplemental materials all the better.
Not a bowdlerized or children's version.
Prefer prose over verse, but verse is OK.
Prefer e-book, but not required.
Should be in print. Don't want to have to hunt for OP or rare editions.

Anyone have some ideas?


message 2: by Bryn (last edited Jun 28, 2013 02:28PM) (new) - rated it 5 stars

Bryn Hammond (brynhammond) On the Nibelungenlied. I have three translations: A.T. Hatto in Penguin, Cyril Edwards in World's Classics, D.G. Mowatt in Dover Thrift Editions.

The Hatto and Edwards have notes, introduction, appendices as you'd expect. Hatto has translated masses of medieval German fiction, he's great but he's not perfect, I find he can be old-fashioned in his notes. A friend of mine who knows this stuff told me both the others are worth getting, the new Cyril Edwards, but also the old D.G. Mowatt he said he likes the most out of the translations. And that's cheap.

Forgot to say, these three are prose.


message 3: by Bryn (last edited Jul 01, 2013 02:28PM) (new) - rated it 5 stars

Bryn Hammond (brynhammond) For the Poetic Edda:
I have this newer translation by Carolyne Larrington, with lots of notes, in Oxford World's Classics: The Poetic Edda

I also have an older translation by Lee M. Hollander: The Poetic Edda

The Hollander tries to mimic the style of the original, not always happily, to my eyes. At random:

The ill-minded man [gap] who meanly thinks,
fleers at both foul and fair;
He does not know [gap] as know he ought,
that he is not free from flaws.


In the Oxford it's:

He's a wretched man, of an evil disposition,
the one who makes fun of everything;
he doesn't know the one thing he ought to know:
that he himself is not devoid of faults.


Easy, modern, less authentic. Whichever style you like.


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