Norse Myths (Legendary Past) [Paperback]

R.I. Page (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0292755465 | ISBN-13: 978-0292755468 | Publication Date: 1990 | Edition: 1

Entertaining and sometimes horrifying legends of gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, monsters and giants survive from pagan Scandinavia, even though the Norse were unable to write them down. With authority and wit, Professor Page retells the Norse legends and shows how complex and sometimes contradictory their traditions are.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press; 1 edition (1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0292755465
• ISBN-13: 978-0292755468
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,410,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First class (and highly affordable) Norse Mythology book!, January 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Norse Myths (Legendary Past) (Paperback)

Professor R.I. Page is one of the foremost runologists and Norse scholars today. Anything he writes is a "must buy!" for me. His Norse Mythology book, for its size, is spot-on accurate (from extant sources, etc.) and is not New Age or of indeterminate scholarship. Prof. Page does it right. I have recommended this book many times to folks, and would rate it as one of the best books on Norse myth to come out in recent years. It is certainly reasonably priced, which makes it all the more appealing to those with small budgets. If you're seriously interested in Norse mythology, go buy this book! It is certainly worth it!

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If you're looking for a textbook...., March 10, 2004

By 

Mark Welsh (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Norse Myths (Legendary Past) (Paperback)

If you want a textbook largely focused on the sources of Norse mythology and obsessed with the origin of Norse mythological metaphors, then you've found it.

When I received this book I was immediately disappointed. It's only 80 pages long and many of those pages are taken up by drawings or pictures of Norse sculptures. If it weren't so short, it could easily pass for a high school textbook.

The actual stories seem almost an afterthought to Page. He uses them more to illustrate the origin of various Norse metaphors. You're almost guaranteed to find something like "and that is why we call rowan 'Thor's deliverance'" at the end of any story. The stories themselves are told in a very dry and unintersting way and aren't put into any logical order. Rather than putting each topic in a separate chapter, Page includes two or three topics in each chapter. With all the unusual names, it's very difficult to remember who is who and almost impossible to go back find where they were first introduced.

If you're a scholar about to study the actual Norse verses, then I highly recommend this book. Page obviously knows a lot about the sources of Norse Mythology and you should find his focus on explaining metaphors very helpful.

If, however, you've got a casual interest in learning about the stories of Norse mythology, then I suggest you look elsewhere.