I picked up The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún after reading this thread. The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún is not an original Tolkien tale, but a reinterpretation of two Norse epic poems: The Lay of the Völsungs and Lay of Gudrún. Tolkien translated the poems and, since the full text of both poems did not survive to the present day, he also filled in the blanks where needed which makes it a reinterpretation.
The book has four introductions: one by Christopher Tolkien which gives context to the hows and whys of the book, one by J.R.R. Tolkien which is a transcript of a lecture he gave on Norse poetry, and one introduction each for The Lay of the Völsungs and Lay of Gudrún. Following each poem is a commentary containing Tolkien's notes and stanza analysis. In my opinion, the transcript of the lecture is worth the price of admission.
OK, so what's it about? Without giving away the plot entirely, it is the story of a cursed treasure of gold passed through three generations. It has everything: the Norse gods, a curse, a dragon, a werewolf, shape changers, tales of epic heroics, and bloody battles! What more could you possibly want?
One thing that really endeared me to the story was the alliteration. The use of alliteration and the challenges of preserving it in translations is covered in the introduction.
Two examples:
That's a fairly accurate statement. Some stanzas have more action in them than most of the total of Beowulf, especially the Lay of Gudrún.
The book has four introductions: one by Christopher Tolkien which gives context to the hows and whys of the book, one by J.R.R. Tolkien which is a transcript of a lecture he gave on Norse poetry, and one introduction each for The Lay of the Völsungs and Lay of Gudrún. Following each poem is a commentary containing Tolkien's notes and stanza analysis. In my opinion, the transcript of the lecture is worth the price of admission.
OK, so what's it about? Without giving away the plot entirely, it is the story of a cursed treasure of gold passed through three generations. It has everything: the Norse gods, a curse, a dragon, a werewolf, shape changers, tales of epic heroics, and bloody battles! What more could you possibly want?
One thing that really endeared me to the story was the alliteration. The use of alliteration and the challenges of preserving it in translations is covered in the introduction.
Two examples:
I like the one review's following comment: "Beowulf is Dr. Seuss compared to some of this."
That's a fairly accurate statement. Some stanzas have more action in them than most of the total of Beowulf, especially the Lay of Gudrún.
Still, looks like ol' JRR done good on these translations. I'll see if I can find an original version for comparison...