The Saga of the Volsungs

While I've not read other translations of this work, the story itself is excellent. It is a pure human drama with mythic undertones and a consistent sense of the "Norse spirit." It covers multiple generations of the Volsung line, centering primarily on Sigurd the Dragon-slayer, but having other memorable moments as well, such as Sigmund and Signy's revenge on Signy's husband, and the struggle between King Atli (Attila the Hun) and Gudrun's brothers for the gold that belonged to the dragon Fafnir. The war god Odin makes many appearances as well. This story was a major influence on Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, as evidenced by the ill-fated ring and the reforged sword elements in both stories. Byock includes numerous helpful notes at the end of the book, and leaves the poem's many short verse sections in verse, instead of converting them to prose. As far as I know this is the most recent translation, but there are others as well, most notably that by William Morris.

If you are looking for a plot synopsis, you won't find it in this review. I'm going to sing the praises of the translation instead and suggest why it might be worth your while to read this short but powerful work. First off, Jesse Byock has done amazing work with his translation as well as introduction and notes. Altogether it sounds like a lot of hyperbole but he has truly made this saga accessible. So yes, if you want to know where Tolkien and Wagner got some of their inspiration, reading this saga will be a painless way to find out. At the same time, it isn't necessary to have any earlier knowledge of Old Norse society; Byock lays it all out in his introduction, and copious endnotes will help you catch parallels and allusions in the text itself. For those who are interested in the Icelandic sagas, but who are wary of starting with the epic family sagas (Njala, Egil, and Laxdaela for example), Volsunga is a good place to start. While names may be elusive - and there is, as always, a profusion of characters, many of them minor - Volsunga is much shorter than any of the family sagas. This translation is also lively and active, and not as dry as some of the other saga translations put out by Penguin. I'm not going to say that Norse writing style wasn't terse and rarely descriptive - because that's just a fact of their prose - but Byock has rendered it in such a way that it's hardly problematic.This is the saga that decided my college major for me - medieval history. It's that powerful!!! :-)

It's rare to find a book that's a good read for readers of all stripes, but this is one of the them. History and saga fiends will love the maps and the way Byock's introduction ties the tale into other historical contexts. Lovers of literature will enjoy the prose and a fantastic episodic narrative that builds one story on top of another into a great epic. It helps that Byock's translation is superb--he catches the rhythm and flow of the original Old Icelandic while crafting a very readable text that isn't dry or overworked as some translations can be. The notes, too, provide a wonderful background that enriches the reader's experience of the saga. This saga is the one to start with. It's a fun saga--with lots of action, and also one of the most important stories in western literature, a Viking Age epic of the hero Sigurd and his wild Volsung kinsmen. Along the way, the famous Attila the Hun and the Gothic horsemen of the steppes enter the story along with others of their ilk.The Saga of the Volsungs is the core basis of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Tolkien was a professor of Old English and taught Old Norse. In his creative way, he mined the Volsung story for the essential elements of his trilogy. If you want to understand Tolkien as well as Scandinavian myth and legend, then this saga is the best place to get started. The sword that was reforged, the ring of power and its connection with water, the Gandalf character, the origin of the Gollum and Aragorn, elves, dwarves, the riders of Rohan and much more all step off the pages of The Saga of the Volsungs.I heartily recommend Jesse Byock's translation of The Saga of the Volsungs for new and old readers of the sagas, and of course for the Tolkien fans out there!