The Prose Edda - Softcover

Sturluson, Snorri

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1497424186 ISBN 13: 9781497424180

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014

Synopsis

The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda (Icelandic: Snorra Edda) or simply Edda, is the most renowned of all works of Scandinavian literature and our most extensive source for Norse mythology.

Written in Iceland a century after the close of the Viking Age, it tells ancient stories of the Norse creation epic and recounts the battles that follow as gods, giants, dwarves and elves struggle for survival.

It also preserves the oral memory of heroes, warrior kings and queens.

In clear prose interspersed with powerful verse, the Edda provides unparalleled insight into the gods' tragic realization that the future holds one final cataclysmic battle, Ragnarok, when the world will be destroyed.

These tales have proved to be among the most influential of all myths and legends, inspiring modern works as diverse as Wagner's Ring Cycle and Tolkien's ‘The Lord of the Rings.’ Together with the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda comprises the major store of pagan Scandinavian mythology.

The work is often assumed to have been written, or at least compiled, by the Icelandic scholar and historian Snorri Sturluson around the year 1220.

Includes detailed annotations by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur.

About this title

About the Author:

Snorri Sturluson[1] (1179 – 23 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He was the author of the Prose Edda or Younger Edda, which consists of Gylfaginning ("the fooling of Gylfi"), a narrative of Norse mythology, the Skáldskaparmál, a book of poetic language, and the Háttatal, a list of verse forms. He was also the author of the Heimskringla, a history of the Norwegian kings that begins with legendary material in Ynglinga saga and moves through to early medieval Scandinavian history. For stylistic and methodological reasons, Snorri is often taken to be the author of Egil's saga.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1497424186
• ISBN 13: 9781497424180
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 142