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Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson

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While Young's translations are quite good, it should be noted that these are *selections* from the Prose Edda, and are not complete. Notably missing are large sections of Skaldskarpamal, or "Poetic Diction". This is a good edition if you just want the mythological stories, but having the complete Prose Edda is even better -- there are a lot of kennings and other details of the poetry that shed further light on the mythology.

Fortunately, there is a good, complete, and inexpensive translation available, and Amazon also carries it -- the Anthony Faulkes translation.

Jean I. Young's translation of selections from "The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson: Tales from Norse Mythology," with an Introduction by the distinguished Icelandic scholar Sigurdhur Nordal, was originally issued in 1954 by Bowes & Bowes Publishers Ltd., Cambridge, with an American edition from the University of California Press; I have a 1964 hardcover printing of the latter version.

UC Press has been reprinting it as a trade paperback for decades. It currently has a new cover (an apparently Victorian vision of Thor in his thunder-chariot, wielding his hammer against the Giants), but Amazon's "Look Inside" function has the old green cover showing a giant eagle carrying off Loki, from an older edition. Not a very good representation of the scene as described inside -- besides Loki's clichéd horned helmet, the hapless trickster should be dragging on the ground, not soaring over the mountains -- but it is a dramatic composition. (The digital version looks much nicer than the cover of my faded and crumbling 1971 printing of the paperback!)

The "Prose Edda" is the main source for a great deal of what we know (or think we know) about the myths and legends of pre-Christian Scandinavia; and often has guided, not always for the better, the interpretation of other, less entertaining or more opaque sources. Leaving aside challenges to Snorri's veracity about his sources, Wagner's "Twilight of the Gods," for example, follows what seems to be a mis-reading or mis-hearing of a word on Snorri's part. (I would follow those who accept Snorri as mainly very reliable, but sometimes in error about what was already in the twelfth century a fading pagan past.)

Young's translation of substantial excerpts was by far the most readily available English version of the material for several decades; and, even with two new competitors, has some merits. Except in a few places, for reasons I can understand in a 1950s context, it seems quite accurate. Some may prefer its prose style (others won't), and it has been used by half a century of secondary sources, including quotations in quite scholarly works.

From the whole Icelandic original, it includes the best-known material; the historicizing "Prologue," the main exposition of Norse mythology, as "The Deluding of Gylfi," and the narrative sections of the "Poetic Diction" (Skaldskaparmal), omitting the long lists of vocabulary and metaphors. As is the case with every English translation but one, the "Hattatal," a poem by Snorri in a hundred-plus meters with his own commentary on each stanza, itself both a virtuoso performance and pedagogical tour-de-force, is omitted.

The Young version had no real competition in the market until the Everyman translation by Anthony Faulkes (1987), as "Edda" the first English rendering to contain the whole body of material, both prose and verse, as found in the original (with the verses in Hattatal given in Icelandic as well as translation, without which the commentary is unintelligible). This is a solid work of scholarship, but it is probably more accessible, as well as more valuable, to serious inquirers than it is to beginners.

Young's version had supplanted for most readers -- and apparently in the minds of publishers -- the excellent 1916 American-Scandinavian Society version by Arthur G. Brodeur, which is long out of print (although available on-line at several sites). Brodeur's translation now seems a bit stilted, is not quite complete (minus "Hattatal," as usual) and in some places is just antiquated, but it is still worth consulting. Young's version really wasn't designed to compete with it as a resource for scholarship, but seems to have done so in practice. In terms of approach and ambitions, Brodeur's version is really the immediate predecessor of the Faulkes even more extensive translation. (Faulkes also edited the Icelandic text.)

Although Young or his publishers felt obliged the soften the relatively blunt language about some body parts and functions, and otherwise render it acceptable to nervous parents, schools, and librarians, I have always found it an enjoyable translation to read. Nordal's introduction, reflecting a consensus half-a-century old, which he had himself championed, is a bit more problematic, but what it has to say is worth considering, too.

A close match in contents to Young's selection is a new Penguin Classics volume from Jesse Byock, "The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology" (2005) to which Young's translation was briefly linked by Amazon. It omits the same large blocks of material (with a few samples offered), and is somewhat closer in style to Young's simple modern English; but the scholarship is considerably more up to date, and my first impression is that it is a much more attractive version. However, those worried about offending the prudish may still prefer Young's slightly bowdlerized rendering, which is by no means a bad translation. (The really interested will want all three; and have a web version of Brodeur bookmarked, too.)

(I can't honestly recommend any of the nineteenth-century versions, such Rasmus B. Anderson's 1869 version, also available on-line, or George Webbe Dasent's rather mannered 1842 translation, which doesn't seem to be available in digital form. Some may find these older translations readable, but at any point they may be seriously antiquated in textual or linguistic scholarship.)

I have discussed at some length the author (named as such in medieval sources), the name of the work, and the confusing existence of a "Poetic" or "Elder" Edda, and other complications, in a review of the Byock translation; to which I would direct the curious; and anyone pondering which version to buy.

I would point out, for those who don't bother with it, that the "About the Author" description for the Young translation, based on that used by the UC Press itself, flatly adopts as true Nordal's tentative suggestion that Snorri was the author of "Egil's Saga." This is a modern idea with no period support, and which has not met with overwhelming approval. ("Egil's Saga" is one of the greatest of the Sagas of the Icelanders, and I wish I could accept the attribution.)

The description also confuses both "Egil's Saga" and "Saint Olaf's Saga" with "Heimskringla," Snorri's compilation of biographies of the Kings of Norway (mostly his own work), in which his distinctive adaptations of the Sagas of Olaf Trygvasson and Olaf the Holy are incorporated. This is worth noting, since two in-print modern translations of "Heimskringla" silently include the two Olaf Sagas, while an Everyman's Library edition in two volumes treated the saga of "King Olaf Trygvesson" and "King Olaf the Saint" separately, and out of chronological order. There should be no need to look for both titles, unless you want that revision of the somewhat creaky nineteenth-century Samuel Laing translation.

This is an excellent translation of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda. The text is very easy to read; it doesn't seem translated in the least. A big plus is the fact that the book contains both the original names of characters in old Icelandic, and a translation in English. Sturluson is a great writer, and I would recommend this book to anyone who is the least bit interested in the old Norse tales

I read this text while at university, and in the years since it is never far from my mind. I recommend it to anyone interested in literature, myth, language, or just exhibits an enquiring mind. What intrigued me the most was the skaldic verse form. To my mind it is the most complicated and creative form I have ever witnessed. Without this book, so much about Scandinavian mythology would have been lost to us forever. Snorri Sturlusson was certainly a special man, with a great gift and a proud endevour. Through his work, his ancestors are still breathing, and waiting in Valhalla.

Although a decent translation of Snorri's Prose Edda; it lacks the depth of the Faulkes' translation. Young only translated two of the three books of the Prose Edda; the Gylfagining and the Skaldscarpismal. Of all the translations of the Prose Edda only Faulks translates all three books and all three have important lore required by the earnest seeker of the lore of the Northern European peoples.

The absolute most essential document for anyone interested in Norse mythos or Scandinavian literature, THE PROSE EDDA is an absolute must read. THE PROSE EDDA is divided into three parts: Gylfaginning ("The Deluding of Gylfi"), Skaldskaparmal ("Poetic Diction"), and Hattatal (which is omitted in this edition).

The first section of THE PROSE EDDA, Gylfaginning, details the various mythologies of the time, delivered in the form of a conversation between the High Ones and the crafty King Gylfi. Readers of fantasy literature will discover how much of the genre was derived from this work. The myths range from the mystical to the humorous, the Norse gods being victim to pranks and other mischiefs from time to time. The second part, Skaldskaparmal, was originally intended to be a guide for poets about the mythos, giving examples of kennings and other idiomatic expressions.

Readers interested in Scandinavian literature absolutely must read THE PROSE EDDA, as it will ease understanding of other works, like THE POETIC EDDA and the various sagas. Readers with a general interest in mythology and the Middle Ages will also be delighted at this compilation, as it is truly one of the foremost works of the time.

I was required to read this text for a college class that I was taking. I found the text to be very informative, but confusing to understand at time. I still reference this text for the mythology classes I teach, and occasionally I will read parts of it to my students. Newer translations of this work are easier to understand and a much better read, but this is still one of the orginal texts for Norse mythology.

Of all the various world mythologies known to modern scholarship, the Norse is one of the most complete. This is especially true with regard to the most archaic element in all Eurasian myth, the so called "World Tree" or "Tree of Life," called Yggdrasill in the Norse tradition. As in the Hebrew version, an evil serpent lives at the base of this sacred tree, and apples of immortality are found in Asgard (heaven) located at its heights. This story, or one of its many variants, appears in the vast majority of mythical traditions that have come down to us from antiquity.

The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson provides details about this Norse version of the Tree of Life that do not appear in the Poetic Edda, the other principal source-text for Scandinavian mythology. These details are of the highest importance for any attempt to understand the symbolic meaning of the story. A full description of the "World Tree" myth, along with an interpretation that has met with scholarly acclaim, can be found in the book: Tree of Life, Mythical Archetype, by Gregory Haynes. All serious students of mythology should consult that publication from Symbolon Press.

This translation of the Prose Edda by Jean Young is, without doubt, one of the most readable of all the modern renditions. The omission of some tedious portions of the Skaldskaparmal is a minor issue, and should not prejudice anyone against acquiring this book. The English flows effortlessly while staying remarkably faithful to the original. This is a brilliant translation of an essential text in world mythology.

Great translation!!! Read this along side with 'Children of Odin' and 'Volsung Sagas.' You'll get a great picture of Norse Mythology with these three Great Books.

If you have an interest in mythology, Scandinavian culture, pre-Christian Indo-European worldview then this is a must read book. If your an Odinist this is a must read book, HOWEVER, the Eddas are not an Odinist bible. Snorri was a Christian who wrote this stuff 200 years after Iceland converted to Christianity. There are obvious Christian influences in the Eddas and there are compelling arguments that some of the Gods in the Eddas were never worshipped by Heathens and put there for entertainment value by Snorri. That being said Snorri is still argueably the best source for Indo-European religion. You just have to take a lot of it with a grain of salt. The translation itself is entertaining and easy to read. Overall you can't go wrong here.