Books: The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún
In preparation for seeing the Ring cycle, mimerki and I read (to each other) one of J.R.R. Tolkien's "newer" posthumous works, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún. It's kind of his translation into modern English of what the Anglo-Saxon version of the Volsung saga might have been, had there been an Anglo-Saxon version of the Volsung saga. And it deserves to be read aloud. OMG. It altered my speech patterns for weeks.
In it's extant state, it's not masterwork quality. It's not even technically finished, in the sense that Tolkien misplaced his draft and it was only found after his death. (That is, the text is complete, it's just not polished to the degree that epic poetry ought to be.) But that said, there are moments of greatness, especially if read aloud.
Among other things, I enjoy how Loki and Högni (Hagen) are basically sane and rational, unlike the people surrounding them. Most of the villainry is taken up by Queen Grímhild of the Niflungs, mother of Gunnar and Gudrún. And I also enjoyed the inclusion of the less-well-known second part, the "The New Lay of Gudrún", in which Grímhild marries off Gudrún to Atli, King of Hunland. Better known to us as Attila the Hun, the Scourge of God. It ends as you might expect: badly and in fire.
A verse from the middle, and the verse from the end:
By mighty Mirkwood
on the marches of the East
the great Goth-kings
in glory ruled.
By Danpar-banks
was dread warfare
with the hosts of Hunland,
horsemen countless.
...
Thus glory endeth,
and gold fadeth,
on noise and clamours
the night falleth.
Lift up your hearts,
lords and maidens
for the song of sorrow
that was sung of old.
So yeah, definitely something to check out if you enjoy the primal rhythms of the English language.
PS - An interesting etymological note is that Attila is Atli is Etzel is Edsel. So yes, the Ford Edsel was named after Attila the Hun.
PPS - I have a fairly strong intuition that the language in "The Lord of the Rings" describing the men of Dunland, is pretty much a direct analogue to descriptions in this of the Huns of Hunland. I might be persuaded to hunt down some of the original language references, if others are interested?
In it's extant state, it's not masterwork quality. It's not even technically finished, in the sense that Tolkien misplaced his draft and it was only found after his death. (That is, the text is complete, it's just not polished to the degree that epic poetry ought to be.) But that said, there are moments of greatness, especially if read aloud.
Among other things, I enjoy how Loki and Högni (Hagen) are basically sane and rational, unlike the people surrounding them. Most of the villainry is taken up by Queen Grímhild of the Niflungs, mother of Gunnar and Gudrún. And I also enjoyed the inclusion of the less-well-known second part, the "The New Lay of Gudrún", in which Grímhild marries off Gudrún to Atli, King of Hunland. Better known to us as Attila the Hun, the Scourge of God. It ends as you might expect: badly and in fire.
A verse from the middle, and the verse from the end:
By mighty Mirkwood
on the marches of the East
the great Goth-kings
in glory ruled.
By Danpar-banks
was dread warfare
with the hosts of Hunland,
horsemen countless.
...
Thus glory endeth,
and gold fadeth,
on noise and clamours
the night falleth.
Lift up your hearts,
lords and maidens
for the song of sorrow
that was sung of old.
So yeah, definitely something to check out if you enjoy the primal rhythms of the English language.
PS - An interesting etymological note is that Attila is Atli is Etzel is Edsel. So yes, the Ford Edsel was named after Attila the Hun.
PPS - I have a fairly strong intuition that the language in "The Lord of the Rings" describing the men of Dunland, is pretty much a direct analogue to descriptions in this of the Huns of Hunland. I might be persuaded to hunt down some of the original language references, if others are interested?