The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun J.R.R.Tolkien

The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun, The world first publication of an unknown work by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Presented for the first time, The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun will transport readers to the heroic landscape of the nameless North of Sigurd the dragon slayer and the Volsungs, a mythic world of ancient Scandinavia, when gods walked the earth and dragons were real.

The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun, written by J.R.R. Tolkien some years before the publication of The Hobbit, was inspired by Norse legends contained within the poems of the Elder Edda and depicts drama and adventure in language only Tokien could have written. Comprising two complete works of narrative verse,t he booke has been edited by Christopher Tolkien, who provides detailed commentary on the verses as wel as a sketch of the complex history of the legend.

"That the ancient poetry in the Old Norse language known by the names of the Elder Edda or the Poetic Edda remained a deep if submerged force in his later life's work is no doubt recognised. It is at any rate well-known that he derived the names of the dwarves in The Hobbit from the first of the poems in the Edda, the Voluspa. But it is certainly not well-known, indeed scarcely known at all, that he wrote two closely associated poems treating of the Volsung (or Nibelung) legend, using modern English fitted to the Old Norse metre, amounting to more than five hundred stanzas: poems that have never been published until now, nor has any line been quoted from them". - Christopher Tolkien

The first full flourishing of a rich narrative style, The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun showcases the powerful and dramatic storytelling that was destined to become famous throughout the world.

"A daunting, uncompromising affair... will appeal strongly to readers already haunted by the deeper, more sombre musics of Middle-eart" - the Times (UK)"A fascinating volume" - The Washington Post.



Harper Collins
The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun
Author: J.R.R.Tolkien
ISBN: 9780007317233
RRP: $45.00