The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology

Written in Iceland a century after the close of the Viking Age, ‘The Prose Edda’ is an Old Norse language Icelandic collection of four sections interspersed with excerpts from earlier Skaldic and Eddic poetry containing tales from Norse mythology. Its tales are peopled by giants, dwarves, elves, superhuman heroes, and indomitable warrior queens. Its gods live with the tragic knowledge of their own impending destruction in the cataclysmic battle of Ragnarok. Its time scale spans the eons from the world’s creation to its violent end. This robust new translation captures the magisterial sweep and startling psychological complexity of the Old Icelandic original.Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected law speaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He was also the author of the Heimskringla, a history of the Norwegian kings that begins with legendary material in the Ynglinga saga and moves through to early medieval Scandinavian history.