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A review by lgrunwald
Edda by Snorri Sturluson
5.0
5 out of 5!
I personally loved edda but, to those not familiar with the text or historical aspects of it all, the Anthony Faulkes translation I personally read may be a bit too archaic in its language. It didn't bother me as much because I already had much experience of reading the Prose Edda before beginning. However, this is one of the only actual complete translations of the edda that doesn't cut out stuff for pacing purposes which I absolutely appreciate!
A lot of translations in English seem to cut things out to make the story of the Edda a bit more... cohesive I guess? Easy to digest I suppose. However, that's not the way the Edda was written. Just as in the old Icelandic and Norse text the stories of our beloved Snori Sturluson do sometimes contradict themselves and his Christian bias is absolutely apparent. He even claims that the Norse gods were somehow decent of the people of Troy. Which, is incorrect but his saying that has it's own historical reasons which are all very fascinating!
In short I highly recommend Anthony Faulkes translation of the Edda for English speakers. As long as you don't mind some very old sounding english and a bit of academic talk this is probably the best and fullest translation in English I have found.
I personally loved edda but, to those not familiar with the text or historical aspects of it all, the Anthony Faulkes translation I personally read may be a bit too archaic in its language. It didn't bother me as much because I already had much experience of reading the Prose Edda before beginning. However, this is one of the only actual complete translations of the edda that doesn't cut out stuff for pacing purposes which I absolutely appreciate!
A lot of translations in English seem to cut things out to make the story of the Edda a bit more... cohesive I guess? Easy to digest I suppose. However, that's not the way the Edda was written. Just as in the old Icelandic and Norse text the stories of our beloved Snori Sturluson do sometimes contradict themselves and his Christian bias is absolutely apparent. He even claims that the Norse gods were somehow decent of the people of Troy. Which, is incorrect but his saying that has it's own historical reasons which are all very fascinating!
In short I highly recommend Anthony Faulkes translation of the Edda for English speakers. As long as you don't mind some very old sounding english and a bit of academic talk this is probably the best and fullest translation in English I have found.