Lee M. Hollander

The Poetic Edda comprises a treasure trove of mythic and spiritual verse holding an important place in Nordic culture, literature, and heritage. Its tales of strife and death form a repository, in poetic form, of Norse mythology and heroic lore, embodying both the ethical views and the cultural life of the North during the late heathen and early Christian times. Collected by an unidentified Icelander, probably during the twelfth or thirteenth century, The Poetic Edda was rediscovered in Iceland in the seventeenth century by Danish scholars. Even then its value as poetry, as a source of historical information, and as a collection of entertaining stories was recognized. This meticulous translation succeeds in reproducing the verse patterns, the rhythm, the mood, and the dignity of the original in a revision that Scandinavian Studies says "may well grace anyone's bookshelf."

The Poetic Edda

The Saga of the Jomsvikings

A loyal translation of the medieval Icelandic saga of a strong ruler and his men versus a brotherhood of fierce Viking mercenaries. In A.D. 986, Earl Hákon, ruler of most of Norway, won a triumphant victory over an invading fleet of Danes in the great naval battle of Hjórunga Bay. Sailing under his banner were no fewer than five Icelandic skalds, the poet-historians of the Old Norse world. Two centuries later their accounts of the battle became the basis for one of the liveliest of the Icelandic sagas, with special emphasis on the doings of the Jómsvíkings, the famed members of a warrior community that feared no one and dared all. In Lee M. Hollander’s faithful translation, all of the unknown twelfth-century author’s narrative genius and flair for dramatic situation and pungent characterization is preserved. “[A] famous tale of derring-do . . . Hollander has been able to do the even more difficult job of faithfully rendering one text into English with complete loyalty to the style and spirit of his original.” —Speculum

The Saga of the Jómsvíkings

In Lee M. Hollander's faithful translation, all of the unknown twelfth-century author's narrative genius and flair for dramatic situation and pungent characterisation is preserved. Hollander was professor emeritus of Germanic languages at the University of Texas at Austin and an authority in Nordic language and literature. His translations of the best prose and poetry of the Old North - among them Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway and The Poetic Edda - have also appeared under the imprint of the University of Texas Press. In A.D. 986, Earl Hâkon, ruler of most of Norway, won a triumphant victory over an invading fleet of Danes in the great naval battle of Hjôrunga Bay. Sailing under his banner were no fewer than five Icelandic skalds, the poet-historians of the Old Norse world. Like good war correspondents of the present, they went home after the battle to relate what they had seen and heard: and, being poets as well as reporters, no doubt they seasoned their versions well with imagination. Two centuries later their accounts of the battle became the basis for one of the liveliest of the Icelandic sagas, with special emphasis on the doings of the Jômsvikings, the famed members of a warrior community that feared no one and dared all.

Jómsvíkinga Saga

Old Norse Poems; the Most Import Non-skaldic Verse Not Included in the Poetic Edda

Snorri Sturluson

Beginning with the dim prehistory of the mythical gods and their descendants, Snorri Sturluson tells us how scions of those descendants, the Swedish kings, colonised and subdued Norway, shire by shire, until King Harald Fairhair united the whole realm. The long line of his successors ruled Norway with varying fortunes, achieving, at one time, a far-flung dominion encompassing a major part of the British Isles and Denmark, besides the homeland. Great missionary kings, especially Olaf Haraldsson (who was later canonised and became the patron saint of Norway), introduced Christianity, and with it southern and western influences. Other rulers weakened the kingdom by their fratricidal struggles or wars with pretenders. Through the whole history, one senses the gradual rise of a national awareness. Snorri Sturluson is, without compare, the greatest historian of the Middle Ages. His work reflects the attitudes of his own troubled times and country, the Iceland of the thirteenth century, torn by bloody feuds.

Lee M. Hollander

Books

Your next favorite book is out there