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    The Story of the Volsungs: The Volsunga Saga
    The Story of the Volsungs: The Volsunga Saga
    The Story of the Volsungs: The Volsunga Saga
    Audiobook4 hours

    The Story of the Volsungs: The Volsunga Saga

    Published by Tantor Media, Inc

    Narrated by Antony Ferguson

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Originally written in Icelandic in the thirteenth century AD by an anonymous author, The Story of The Volsungs is a legendary saga based on Norse mythology. The epic describes the legendary history and heroic feats of several generations of mythic Viking families and derives from many sources, including preexisting Edda, or heroic poems, Norse legends, historical events, and orally transmitted folklore. The saga is imbued throughout with themes of power, jealousy, love, vengeance, and fear. Often considered a critical influence on such later works as Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle and J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Story of the Volsungs is a powerful epic that continues to resonate for modern listeners. This edition-which includes excerpts from the Poetic Eddas, one of the sources of The Story of the Volsungs-is the translation by William Morris and Eirikr Magnusson.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 30, 2011
    ISBN9781452673561
    The Story of the Volsungs: The Volsunga Saga

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    Reviews for The Story of the Volsungs

    4/5

    24 ratings17 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Jesse Byock's translation of this is pretty good, as in, clear and readable. Like the other sagas, it's not like a novel: the tone is matter of fact, and for the most unemotional and non-committal. That gets a bit weird to read, sometimes, with abrupt lines like "And he is out of the saga". The story itself is interesting and has obviously been influential (The Lord of the Rings).

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This version of the Nibelungenlied is very popular (perhaps because it's shorter?) than the German original. Byock's translation moves along nicely, but I prefer the Hatto translation of the Nibelungenlied or Stephen Grundy's modern redaction of the corpus.
    • 5/5
      Morris took the Völsunga saga, a late 13th century Icelandic prose mixture of heroic deeds, vendetta, court intrigue, the revenge of queens, dragon slaying and a cursed ring, and using this as his source turned it into a powerful and moving English epic poem. I enjoyed this far more than I thought I would. The characters are vivid. The dramatic tension at the center of the poem where the conflicting values of honor, political necessity, love and envy that lead to tragic conclusions is portrayed realistically in rhyming verse with the flavor of a bygone era.Morris made his Victorian adaptation sound more medieval by liberally sprinkling his modern English with archaic words, for example it’s always held instead of yard or courtyard, and dight instead of ordered, thee and thou instead of you, and clingeth instead of clings. However having access to the Oxford English Dictionary—Thank you to the Houston Public Library for making this available online—made it easy for me to decipher these. This work greatly exceeded my expectations of it.
    • 2/5
      The story is good, but the recording is missing parts and stops mid sentence and goes to the next chapter.
    • 4/5
      I recall my father reciting the apparence of Odin in this "one-eyed, and seeming ancient, but in his hand a brand" --that may not be verbatim
    • 4/5
      The Saga of the Volsungs was written in the thirteenth century by an unknown Norse author. The story itself, however, is much older and parts are found throughout many Norse stories prior to this version. The story tells of Sigurd the dragonslayer, a man unlike any in the world, and unsurpassed in any way. His familial heritage is recounted, as is his marriage with Gudrun and their children, and after his death, the fates of Gudrun, her brothers, children, and many others including Attila the Hun and Ermanaric, King of the Goths.The value of this saga on literature is enormous. It influenced the German Nibelungenlied, Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, and Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and his recently published The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, among others. Many aspects of the saga are reminiscent in literature - a ring of power; a broken sword that is reforged to perform a specific task; a group of kings and warriors attempting to pull a sword out of a tree with only one person succeeding; a horse descended from Odin's Sleipnir making it one of the best horses in the world; a dragon guarding a vast amount of gold and wealth.As entertainment, The Saga of the Volsungs is up there, with a wonderful story. Of course, the writing is a bit different than most people are accustomed to, being several centuries old and written much differently than today. While some versions may prove a tad difficult and uninteresting to the casual reader, Jesse Byock does an excellent job making it accessible to the common reader while still staying relatively true to the original.Aside from the entertainment value of the saga, it offers insight into the world of the Norse and Norse literature such as kennings, which replaced a noun with a circumlocution - "battle-sweat" instead of "blood", "sleep of the sword" instead of "death", "bane of wood" replacing "fire", etc. This specific translation of the saga maintains many of the kennings which liven up the saga and aid in its unique style. And, of course, it offers glimpses of Norse mythology as Odin plays many roles in the story, as do the norns and valkyries, as well as magic runes and Norse sorcery and, humorously, a senna - that is, a contest of insults including this zinger:Sinfjotli replied: You probably do not remember clearly now when you were the witch on Varinsey and said that you wanted to marry a man and you chose me for the role of husband...I sired nine wolves on you at Laganess, and I was the father of them all. (As can be surmised, he is speaking to another man)The Saga of the Volsungs is an entertaining read, and at roughly 110 pages is not very time consuming and offers a quick glimpse into what some of the Norse valued and how they perceived kingship, courtship, and war.
    • 4/5
      Excellent story, but in this Tantor audiobook edition, the end of each chapter is cut off by the announcement of the next one.
    • 3/5
      If you ever want to rebut the idea that in the past people were nice, read a saga. There's an awful lot of violence in here, all described in a bvery matter of fact manner. The saga is in esence the family lineage of the Volsungs, the deeds of great daring that one of their number commits and how the family line comes to an end. The saga finishes when everyone is dead (pretty much!). This is a modern translation of the surviving manuscript that was recorded in the 13th Century. It is almost certainly based on a much older oral tradition. The introduction spends time discussing the transition in the saga between myth and relative fact, such that there is a folk memory at work here. Once we move from myth there is less incest and child killing, but not a lot less violence. The number of times someone is killed by the in-laws makes you wonder why get married at all! It's fun, it's fast and it is fascinating. The short poetic sections were the best elements of this.
    • 3/5
      The Story of the Volsungs, or the Volsunga Saga, is a 13th century Norse epic (by an unknown author) that chronicles the struggles of the Volsung clan/family over the course of a few generations. The most notable member of this family, Sigurd, is the protagonist for around half of the book. The rest of the story features his ancestors, romantic interests, and descendants.I originally decided to read this saga because of its use in other media- especially J.R.R. Tolkien's poetic "The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún" and Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle of operas, "Der Ring des Nibelungen." In Tolkien and Wagner, it is a tale involving Gods, heroes, Valkyries, Giants, and a magic ring. Rather than start with Tolkien's book or performances of the operas, I decided to begin by reading the original material. I selected the 1888 translation by William Morris and Eirikr Magnússon because it was conveniently and freely available from Project Gutenberg.The legend, at least in its original form, isn't quite what I expected. The presence of Gods is slight, and aside from a single (important) scene involving the dragon Fafnir, no other fantastical creatures appear. It is primarily a tale of warriors and kings- it has some of the same fantasized historical feeling as other old legends, histories, and religious tales. (Three examples that come to mind are the Old Testament, China's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," and "Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali.") Although the Volsunga Saga takes place in the 13th century, the setting and characters feel like they come out of the Bronze Age. Politics is very localized- there are numerous "kings" who each rule small areas, more like warlords or chiefs of big clans than the medieval European conception of a "king."The story is exceptionally violent, and from a modern perspective, the morality is quite twisted. Heroes are praised in proportion to the number of men (especially kings) they have killed. Honor belongs to the strong, and weakness is not deserving of empathy or pity. Not once, but twice, different women of the Volsung clan (generally regarded as positive protagonists) who were forced to marry kings that they did not like choose to have their own children murdered (and in one case, personally murders them with a knife), though the children were innocent of any wrongdoing. The great hero, Sigurd, also performs acts that a modern reader might consider immoral- his treatment of a king's advisor, Regin, comes to mind.The saga has a few small continuity problems. For example, in one chapter near the middle of the book, the hero Sigurd meets the wise woman Brynhild and, after a time, they swear their love for one-another. In the next chapter, Sigurd has come to a castle. Brynhild arrives there and acts as if she has no memory of swearing to love Sigurd in the preceding chapter, and Sigurd re-acquaints himself with her. Since the saga was assembled out of various oral histories, I'd guess this was a breakpoint between two stories about Sigurd and Brynhild, and the end of one slightly overlaps the beginning of the next.One bizarre aspect of this story is the way in which more than one character shrugs off immediate and dire verbal threats- well past the point of ridiculousness. For example, after the husband of one woman of the Volsung clan kills her brothers, she directly tells him that she's going to kill him. He blows off the threat and offers her some gold, which she angrily refuses. Shortly thereafter, she runs him through with a sword while he's sleeping. If this happened once, maybe it would be attributable to an exceptionally prideful and foolish character- but the way threats are not acted upon repeatedly by different people seems to make little sense.I'll close this review by retelling a tidbit of the story that is disconnected from other parts of the story (and so provides no significant spoilers), but which is emblematic of some of the story's weirdness, violence, and morality.At one point, Gudrun tells her two sons to avenge the death of their sister by killing the king who murdered her. Her two sons dutifully gear themselves for war and begin riding toward the neighboring king's castle. On the way, they meet their brother Erp, who was never previously mentioned and has (apparently) been away and is unaware of recent events. The two sons explain their errand and ask if their brother will come along and help them.Erp answers, "I shall help you as one hand helps the other hand, or as one foot helps the other foot."The two sons considered this answer, decided that it meant that Erp would provide no help at all, and slew him. Then they rode on. (Later, they realize that Erp's answer probably meant that he was willing to help.)While there are certainly interesting historical and cultural things to be learned from reading a story like the Volsunga Saga, as a work of fiction, it is a disappointment. The plot is a meandering set of struggles against numerous petty kings. It is filled with bizarre and flat characters, conversations are either summarized in a sentence or stilted exchanges, and you never feel like you get to know the thoughts or personality of any character. I think a modern retelling of the story (rather than a translation of a very old text) would provide for a better experience. Unless you're primarily interested in historical authenticity, I'd consider going for J.R.R. Tolkien's version rather than the original.
    • 3/5
      William Morris may be a good writer, but I dislike his translation skills. Working through the language of the translation is a task in and of itself. (My commented to my friend Dave while reading it: "This Volsunga translation is truly f***ing awful.")

      That said, the story is quite enjoyable once you get past the awfulness of the translation. I don't why ancient epics always have such a penchant for nefarious things like incest and gratuitously horrific murder, but they do make for a good tale.

      Tolkien's [b:The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun] is a reboot of part of the Volsungasaga, and well worth a read in tandem with this book. Apparently, he quite liked the translation, and he knows more about languages than I do, so take that for what it's worth.
    • 4/5
      The Saga Of The Volsungs follows several generations as they achieve great renown, and are killed by people jealous of their success. The following generations try to avenge their fallen ancestors. Filled with compelling elements such as: cursed gold, a ring with the name Andvaranaut, a broken sword to be reforged, fights with dragons, dwarves, shapeshifters, magic, and epic battles it is a story you will not want to miss.Revenge is what motivates the characters in this saga. What I find absolutely fascinating in this story, is the varying methods the Volsungs use to get their revenge. From one on one fights to training from a young age in the woods, the Volsungs seek and obtain justice for their murdered family.I enjoyed reading this saga, and only wish it was longer. I recommend reading this book if you are new to the sagas. It is an excellent one to start with. It follows many of the typical themes in the sagas without completely overwhelming a new reader with a lot of different terms.
    • 4/5
      Wow. Well, this was certainly action packed! Magic rings, swords in trees (like swords in anvils, only different), and nearly endless duplicitous in-laws. Loads of good stuff, and loads of weird stuff, too. The ending seemed rather abrupt, but that might just have been because it ended as soon as everyone was dead. The notes are good, and the translation is modern and very readable. I enjoyed this, but I have to say that I can't remember ever reading Anything before in which the cast of characters was so consistently bloodthirsty!
    • 5/5
      Don't be put off by the wordyish 150yo translation. Fantastic! Audio book amazing. Get a taste of and a feeling for the world of northern myth.
    • 3/5
      Spoiler! Everybody dies.

      This is a fine saga, as sagas go, certainly less focussed on number-of-cattle-owned than Njal's Saga.

      Very clearly the product of multiple retellings: events such as the Sigurd/Brynhild meeting are retold a few times, with some hasty back-filling to call one or the other a dream (no doubt in response to some plaintive "Grandpa, you told us they got married last week!" cries), and there is quite a bit of "stay tuned for next week's campfire" prophecy going on.
    • 3/5
      I plan on re-reading this now that I'm more interested in this mythology.
    • 3/5
      Incest, murder, more murder, dragons, high level smithing, treason, revenge, and Attila the Hun. Also, short, pleasant to read, and not obsessed with silly details. What exactly is there not to like?
    • 5/5
      This is one of my favorite sagas. It has interesting themes, and great characters. I am particularly drawn to Signy, though I can't quite put my finger on why. This translation, however, is not one of my favorites. It doesn't scan as well as the Kaaren Grimstad translation but as the Grimstad book is harder to find, this is not a bad substitution.