The Prose Edda
Tales from Norse Mythology
Snorri Sturluson
Translated by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur
First published in 1916, Dover Publications, 2006
Gods and giants bestride these ancient tales, in which
warrior queens and noble heroes battle with elves,
dwarves, and fearsome monsters. Spanning the dawn
of the world's creation to its fiery destruction, these
gripping Norse legends chronicle the triumphs and
tragedies of a lost era. Resounding with a poetic instinct
for the picturesque, the dramatic, and the human, they
form vivid portraits of the characters' personalities.
They also depict the comic and disastrous results of
ambition, passion, and destiny.
The wellspring of modern knowledge of Norse
mythology, these sagas preserved the Vikings' narrative
style from an invading European influence. Iceland's
great literary genius, Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241),
combined oral traditions, genealogical records, and
old songs to immortalize his country's glorious past.
Edda means poetic art, and Sturluson's guidebook
for Icelandic poets has been a timeless inspiration
for generations of writers around the world, including
Wagner, Borges, and Tolkien.
(The text above comes from the back of the book)