The Elder Edda: A Book of Viking Lore

[Mark C.]

Penguin Classics have just brought out a new translation of the Poetic Edda. The book is called “The Elder Edda: A Book of Viking Lore”. The translation is done by Andy Orchard; whose book “A Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend” is a favourite of mine.

I highly recommend this translation. It’s clear and easy to read and there are some interesting elements to it. In particular his translation has Loki accompany Thor in Hymiskvida instead of Tyr. In the notes he makes a good case for why this would be a better way to translate the poem (i.e. from both a linguistic and mythological perspective) and how people are confused by tyr as a generic word for “god” and Tyr as a name. It also makes much more sense and would make it clear that Odin is Tyr’s farther (as Snorri states) and not Hymir as other translations of the Hymiskvida would suggest.

A great book and one that all heathens should have on their shelves:

http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Edda-Viking-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140435859

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elder-Edda-Viking-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140435859

Mark.

[Hyacinth Belle]

Penguin Classics have just brought out a new translation of the Poetic Edda. The book is called “The Elder Edda: A Book of Viking Lore”. The translation is done by Andy Orchard; whose book “A Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend” is a favourite of mine.

I highly recommend this translation. It’s clear and easy to read and there are some interesting elements to it. In particular his translation has Loki accompany Thor in Hymiskvida instead of Tyr. In the notes he makes a good case for why this would be a better way to translate the poem (i.e. from both a linguistic and mythological perspective) and how people are confused by tyr as a generic word for “god” and Tyr as a name. It also makes much more sense and would make it clear that Odin is Tyr’s farther (as Snorri states) and not Hymir as other translations of the Hymiskvida would suggest.

A great book and one that all heathens should have on their shelves:

http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Edda-Viking-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140435859

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elder-Edda-Viking-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140435859

Mark.

 
Awesome! I find differences in translation very interesting. What's up with that subtitle though? lol.

[cwummel]

Penguin Classics have just brought out a new translation of the Poetic Edda. The book is called “The Elder Edda: A Book of Viking Lore”. The translation is done by Andy Orchard; whose book “A Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend” is a favourite of mine.

I highly recommend this translation. It’s clear and easy to read and there are some interesting elements to it. In particular his translation has Loki accompany Thor in Hymiskvida instead of Tyr. In the notes he makes a good case for why this would be a better way to translate the poem (i.e. from both a linguistic and mythological perspective) and how people are confused by tyr as a generic word for “god” and Tyr as a name. It also makes much more sense and would make it clear that Odin is Tyr’s farther (as Snorri states) and not Hymir as other translations of the Hymiskvida would suggest.

A great book and one that all heathens should have on their shelves:

http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Edda-Viking-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140435859

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elder-Edda-Viking-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140435859

Mark.

 
Thanks for sharing this! :

[Mark C.]

What's up with that subtitle though? lol.

You just know that someone in “marketing” thought it would help sell what was effectively a “dusty old poetry book” :-)

It is s very good translation though. Something genuinely “fresh” and the extensive notes on each poem at the back of the book provide much food for thought. It’s quickly becoming my favourite translation! Good to have others to compare and contrast of course.

Mark.

[Lokabrenna]

You just know that someone in “marketing” thought it would help sell what was effectively a “dusty old poetry book” :-)

It is s very good translation though. Something genuinely “fresh” and the extensive notes on each poem at the back of the book provide much food for thought. It’s quickly becoming my favourite translation! Good to have others to compare and contrast of course.

Mark.

And the price is right, too!
It's now on my wishlist. Here's the link to it on Amazon.ca in case there are any Canadians lurking around:

http://www.amazon.ca/Penguin-Classics-Poetry-Elder-Edda/dp/0140435859/ref=reg_hu-rd_add_1_dp

It was mis-titled in the database, it seems. Amazon Canada has been doing that a lot lately...

[Finn]

Penguin Classics have just brought out a new translation of the Poetic Edda. The book is called “The Elder Edda: A Book of Viking Lore”. The translation is done by Andy Orchard; whose book “A Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend” is a favourite of mine.

 
Neat! It'll be cool to compare his translation with Lee Hollander's (which is the only copy I have of the Poetic Edda). Any opinions on him?

[cwummel]

Neat! It'll be cool to compare his translation with Lee Hollander's (which is the only copy I have of the Poetic Edda). Any opinions on him?

 
I would say Lee Hollander is kind of the middle ground or base standard for the translations.  There are better and worse out there, but Lee's translation tends to hold up fairly well.

[Lokabrenna]

Neat! It'll be cool to compare his translation with Lee Hollander's (which is the only copy I have of the Poetic Edda). Any opinions on him?

I have Larrington's translation, and this is what I heard about Hollander:

He includes a section that most modern translations leave out.
He tries to preserve the poetic forms as much as possible.

Basically, what I heard was: "If you want something that's 'readable' (ie. you don't want to have to wade through archaic terminology) and easily available, go with Larrington. If you want something that's truer to the poetic style that was used way back then, Hollander's your best bet."

[SunflowerP]

And the price is right, too!
It's now on my wishlist. Here's the link to it on Amazon.ca in case there are any Canadians lurking around:

Oh, good - that both makes it easier to add to my wishlist, and saves me the trouble of finding and posting the link...  y'know, in case there are any Canadians lurking around:-).

Buuut, may I recommend to all the use of Cauldron Amazon links?  Like this - if I did that right, it should take people to a Cauldron page with the Amazon.com listing in a frame, with tabs at the top of the frame to switch to either Amazon UK or Amazon Canada.  (And if I misremembered and did it wrong, I'll have to go digging.)

It was mis-titled in the database, it seems. Amazon Canada has been doing that a lot lately...

 
A not-uncommon issue on all the Amazon sites - it's part of why, when someone makes a rec without a link, I habitually search by author name (which can also get mistranscribed, but rarely unfindably so) rather than by title.

Sunflower

[SunflowerP]

Buuut, may I recommend to all the use of Cauldron Amazon links?  Like this - if I did that right, it should take people to a Cauldron page with the Amazon.com listing in a frame, with tabs at the top of the frame to switch to either Amazon UK or Amazon Canada.  (And if I misremembered and did it wrong, I'll have to go digging.)

 
And since I remembered it right, I'll show my work: title or other link text here.  Replace my pointy brackets with BBCode's square ones, and use the ten-digit ISBN.

Sunflower