Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths by Nancy Marie Brown

Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths Reviews

• 
  Skallagrimsen

  This might be the only book in English specifically about Snorri Sturluson. If so, it provides a long-overdue examination of one of the most important writers of the Middle Ages, the man to whom we owe most of what we know about one of the world's greatest mythological traditions.
  
  From the names of the days of the week, to their influence on Wagnerian opera and contemporary fantasy literature, the gods and heroes of the Vikings are embedded in our language and culture. Yet they might have been lost to history but for Snorri's efforts to preserve them. We owe him a collective debt of gratitude for that. We owe additional thanks to Nancy Marie Brown for celebrating Snorri's achievements in this book.
  
  That said, I can't recommend it without qualification. It has a loose, somewhat sloppy structure, so that at times it reads more like a late draft than a quite-finished product. Her chapters on the medieval Icelandic scene include a barrage of strange and intimidating names that most readers won’t remember, or need to. Her summaries of the Norse myths themselves, while enjoyable, will probably already be familiar to just about anyone who picks up this book, raising the question as to why they were included to begin with. Overall, Song of the Vikings impresses me as padded and lacking in focus.
  
  There’s a great book to be written about the life and legacy of Snorri Sturluson. Here we must settle for a merely adequate one.
• 
  Jo Walton

  This is an odd mixture, a biography of Snorri along with synopses of Norse mythology.
  
  I'm not sure who Brown thinks the audience for this book is -- anyone who knows enough to want to read it wouldn't need the retellings of the stories. I enjoyed reading it, I gained some information, especially about the context of the writing of the Edda, I boggled at the fact that Snorri lived at the same time as St Francis (or even on the same planet...) and it left me with a strong desire to visit Iceland. But it also left me unsatisfied -- and I did feel that she either shouldn't have covered modern post-Tolkien fantasy at all or done it more thoroughly. When I read something cursorily skimming over a subject I know about, it makes me dubious about the sections I didn't know anything about and wonder if they were just as superficial.
• 
  Adam Wiggins

  Norse mythology and the viking sagas are the basis for almost all modern fantasy, starting with Tolkien and up through Game of Thrones. And almost everything we know about Norse mythology comes down to us in the 800-year-old writings of one man: Snorri Sturluson. This book is his biography.
  
  Snorri was not primarily a skald (aka bard or poet), or a writer. Storytelling was a hobby; his day job was amassing power through politics and war, eventually leading to him becoming the lawspeaker at the Althing and the most powerful chieftain in Iceland. He also built lavish homes for himself, fathered many children, participated in the debates about how Christianity fit into Icelandic life, and politicked on Iceland's relationship to the growing empire of Denmark over the sea to the east. Snorri's enemies eventually caught up with him and assassinated him.
  
  This book will be best enjoyed by someone who is already familiar with (and fascinated by) Norse mythology: Odin, Thor, Freya, Loki, Ragnarok, valkyries, frost giants, Fenrir, the Midgard serpent, and so on.
  
  One reason why Snorri's life matters so much in understanding Norse mythology is because he brought his own influences to the stories. For example, he depicts Thor as a bumbling oaf; but Thor must have been well-respected by Scandinavians of the time, given the number of male children named Thor. Snorri writes the stories to put Odin in the most favorable light. Odin achieves his ends through being clever, resourceful, knowledgeable, and sometimes manipulative. (This is in fact how Snorri built his power: he wasn't a great warrior, but instead he knew how to influence people and organize them to his benefit.)
  
  So since Snorri's writings are almost the only written record of the Norse sagas, it's clear that we don't have anywhere near a complete picture of what Scandinavians from this era really believed, let alone what those from the peak of the Viking age (which around 500 years before Snorri's time) believed.
  
  Wonderful book which I enjoyed very much.
  
• 
  Lindsey

  You can read and comment on this and other reviews here:
  http://digitalmanticore.com/?p=114
  
  So, a few weeks ago we saw the new Loki movie—excuse me—Thor movie and I was like, by Odin’s beard! It has been too long since I read up on Norse mythology (which according to my records was in 2011)! I came home, hopped on to the website for my local library and found this book.
  
  Song of the Vikings is an interesting read because it links a few different vectors of Norse mythology. There is a little bit of the myths themselves (we learn about the time Loki got down with a horse, for example, and why gold is otter’s ransom), but more than the myths, Brown lays down the saga of Snorri Sturluson and how the myths came down from the Vikings to the present. In many ways, this is more instructive than the actual content of the myths.
  
  Snorri Sturluson is one of the most influential dudes you have (probably) never heard of. He is the author of several works: The Prose Edda, Heimskringla, and Egil’s Saga. The Edda is perhaps the most well-known of his works, even though no one knows what an “edda” actually is. Some think it might be “the book of Oddi,” (Oddi being the name of a place Snorri lived), or maybe something like “the art of poetry.” It could possibly even be given the cheeky translation of “the art of great-grandmother’s old-fashioned songs.” The Prose Edda (yes, this is in contrast to another author’s Poetic Edda) is the primary compendium of the stories we recognize as Norse mythology. Not only is this mythology awesome, but it has been called “the deep an ancient wellspring of Western culture.” So, if you are not an uncultured lout, you should listen up and learn yourself some Norse business.
  
  Snorri lived in Iceland during the late 12th and early 13th century. Iceland at this time was kind of the way you might imagine it to be. People then and there had plots of land where they might graze cows or goats. There was, of course, a lot of fishing, and exceptionally well-situated landowners might have access to a hot spring. Families were brought together under chieftains, who were not exactly elected, but who could not govern if they did not have the confidence and might of the people behind them. Positions of power were typically cemented through family ties, but people were also respected for being well-versed in the law or for being great poets. Another cultural force at this time was Christianity, which was a surprise to me. There were churches in Iceland during this period and the church was gradually becoming more influential among the people.
  
  In this climate we have Snorri. He was born to a fairly influential family and was a foster son to Jon Loftsson of Oddi, the “uncrowned king of Iceland.” Snorri became educated and grew up to be influential in his own right. He was the chief over some choice chieftaincies and he even became the lawspeaker at the allthing—essentially the most law-knowing and well-versed guy at the annual Icelandic assembly. He was also a great poet and he loved writing about the gods, especially Odin, who was, in Snorri’s opinion, the best god. While most people at the time favored Thor, Snorri seems to have considered him a dumb meat-head, eschewing Thor for Odin and his cleverness and skill in poetry. It should be noted that poetry was not then, as it is today, seen as a sign of femininity. Manly men went on raids and also traded verses to exhibit their keen wit. Vikings love poetry; it is manly business.
  an image of Snorri Stuluson
  
  Although Iceland was, at this time, an independent commonwealth, the Norwegian king had designs on the land. Snorri, in his quest for more power and influence, spent several seasons at the Norwegian court getting to know the young king and apparently glad-handing with everyone there. Snorri was also semi-obsessed with the concept of kingliness and what it meant to be a king. His first visit to Norway inspired his work Heimskringla, which is a saga about Norwegian kings. Snorri was concerned the Norway’s young king (then 16) was missing out on vital information. He worried that kids these days were losing the ability to understand poetry—that most influential of arts. Heimskringla goes a long way to explain the old stories of the gods; understanding these stories is the key to understanding poetry, and as such, all the important literature of the time. Nordic poetry was fond of kennings, which is basically referring to something by calling it something else. Brown includes this example to illustrate the importance of knowing one’s stories:
  
  “The noble hater of the fire of the sea defends the woman-friend of the enemy of the wolf; prows are set before the step brow of the confidante of the friend of Mimir. The noble, all-powerful one knows how to protect the mother of the attacker of the work; enjoy, enemy of neck-rings, the mother of the troll-wife’s enemy until old age.”
  
  Brown comments “As the translator of this stanza notes, the audience needs to know five myths and the family trees of two gods or it’s nonsense.” The majority of verses were similarly oblique (if the poet had any level of skill).
  
  The main concept I got from Song of the Vikings is that almost everything we know of Norse myth came from one guy: Snorri Sturluson. It seems obvious that Snorri’s personal biases would have been woven into the myth, but I wonder how much? One thing that comes to mind is the duality of fire and ice, which runs through a lot of the myths (the creation myth, for one). Iceland would have been a place where snow and lava clash, but that would not be true of Norway and Sweden, where the myths originated. Did Snorri come up with this imagery himself because he was a storyteller or was this idea already part of the world of myth? I wonder how the myths would be different if not told by Snorri? We know that he was a big fan of Odin. Would we know that Odin traded an eye for wisdom?
  
  The last chapter of the book deals with how Norse mythology became a part of our present culture. For a long time, the stories were essentially lost. After Snorri’s death, Iceland was annexed into Norway, Christianity became more prominent and, you know, paganism was not really on the rise. The church even tried to change the names of the weekdays to silly things like Third Day and Midweek Day (instead of Tyr’s Day and Odin’s Day, also known as Tuesday and Wednesday). I thought it was interesting that the Germans later (by later I mean 1700-1800s) reclaimed Norse mythology as their heritage. They took it up so fiercely that it essentially inspired modern German nationalism. During the early 20th century, any non-Germans who were interested in Norse myth were suspected to by Nazi sympathizers. Yes, this includes J. R. R. Tolkien, who was hugely influenced by Norse mythology.
  
  Tolkien has probably done more to propel Norse myth into modern Western (American and English, at least) consciousness than anyone. As a professor of English, he started a club to focus on Nordic literature and he fought to get Norse myth into the syllabus. He felt that the Norse mythology was of great import to the English canon than Shakespeare, which is quite the claim.
  
  Now, of course, the Norse gods are very much in pop culture, especially with movies like The Avengers and comics and the rest of it. Although, I think mythology is general is having quite the renaissance. Greek and Roman myth is getting treatment in things like Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and Camp Halfblood series, as well. I would be interested in see an analysis regarding what draws us to mythology. Is it just that it makes for great storytelling? Is it something more?
  
  I’ll conclude with a quotation from Snorri. He states in the Edda, “But these things [lore] have now to be told to young poets … but these stories are not to be consigned to oblivion.” Thankfully, they were not and it seems like they will not be consigned to oblivion any time too soon.
  
  If you are interested in Norse mythology, here are some suggestions for further reading:
  
  Loki by Mike Vasich is a fantasy novel that retells some of the Norse mythology with a focus on my personal favorite aesir, Loki.
  From Asgard to Valhalla: The Remarkable History of the Norse Myths by Heather O’Donoghue is a non-fiction work that focuses on how Norse myth has played out in popular culture over the last several centuries.
  Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by H.R. Ellis Davidson is an academic treatment about the Norse gods, what we know about them, etc.
  
• 
  Barb Middleton

  This biography about the 13th century Icelandic Chieftain, Snorri Sturluson, who was murdered in his cellar when he angered King Haakon IV of Norway, is engrossing and slow at times. Full of great literary facts, sometimes the pacing got bogged down with all the different relatives vying for power. Perhaps if I had written the names down as I was reading, I wouldn't have gotten tripped up at times. I read 40 minutes everyday and perhaps one sitting would have helped me keep everyone straight. Nancy Marie Brown has a straight-forward narrative that is easy to read and engaging. She does a terrific job bringing to life the customs and lifestyle of the Icelandic people.
  
  Snorri's famous books, "Heimskringla" and "Edda," were written on the history of Norwegian kings and Norse mythology and they had an enormous impact on literature, influencing the rise of the gothic novel in the 1700s, inspiring J.R.R. Tolkien, and leaving a footprint that can be seen in the immensely popular modern day Marvel comic movies and Game of Thrones television series. Snorri married a rich heiress and became a chieftain later acquiring more chiefdoms. An accomplished lawyer, he was chosen three times as lawspeaker for the Althing which is like being president of parliament. He got into trouble with King Haakon in his late 50s when he disobeyed the King's order to stay in Norway and returned to Iceland. The King sought consequences for Snorri's disobedience and Snorri's main rival that wanted to usurp him was quite willing to carry out the death sentence.
  
  Snorri was a brilliant storyteller and brought to life the Norse gods of old making them "peculiarly human." The gods had limitations and were not particularly smart. They liked to play games on each other, joke, and be cruel. They also knew that the end of the world was coming but they didn't know how to stop it or save the world. Snorri adds humor and entertainment and while the poems are difficult to understand because of their complex style, they had a resurgence in the 1700s. Brown ties mythology with national history and shows how it evolves to some extent. She doesn't delve deeply into it but I found the few links she does make tantalizing. I'd like to explore this topic more.
  
  Brown's writing didn't feel as cohesive as her other book I read, "The Far-Traveler." The narrative felt scattered at times and while I know some of that is due to the long genealogies, I also felt the main focus got lost at times as she points out Snorri's skills as lawyer, historian, and poet. The section on kennings and how complex the poems are was really fascinating and I wished it had been closer to the beginning. I kept wondering why she wasn't quoting his poems. As she gives an example then I realized that it would read like nonsense to the modern day reader. What a difficult topic to write about and I admire her effort even if it falls short at times. In "The Far-Traveler," Brown frames the story with archeology and for me it was the glue that held it all together. I needed something more to hold all the pieces together.
  
  The information in this book is valuable and heavily researched. I read about Snorri on Wikipedia after reading Brown's book and there are some conflicts between it and what she has written. They are small things but it would be a way to show students how the Internet is not always a reliable source. Snorri loved power and in the end it was his downfall. This is loaded with great facts and extensive footnotes. If you are interested in the Icelandic sagas and history of Norse mythology then I highly recommend it.
• 
  Heidi The Reader

  I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads. FTC guidelines: check!
  
  This book was very different from anything else that I've read. I have a background education in Greek and Roman mythology, but knew very little of the Norse legends and mythology. The snippets of myth that Brown included in this book were excellent. I wish that she had put more of that in there.
  
  The historical person of Snorri was fascinating in that I had no idea what Icelanders were up to in the 1100s. It was less interesting when it delved into the lists of names, quarrels, chieftainships, marriages, divorces, and endless political scheming of Snorri and his family which surprised me because usually I enjoy reading about that kind of history. Brown's delivery was dry in places and somehow the material that could have been so engaging, just wasn't.
  
  I liked that she listed the names of authors and books that have been heavily influenced by the Eddas (more to add to my to-read list!). Also, this is the first book that explained to me in detail about Tolkien's fascination with Snorri's materials and how he introduced them to his fellow Inklings and students. Fans of the Lord of the Rings should read pages 195-204!
  
  I enjoyed Brown's descriptions of skaldic poetry and the use of kennings. They built riddles and puzzles within their epic poetry and part of the enjoyment of their works was figuring out what on earth they were talking about in the first place. Modern English doesn't really have an equivalent to that in my opinion.
  
  Read this book if you're interested in Snorri's Iceland and authors who have been influenced by his works. Do not read this if you're looking for a fast-paced historical saga.
  
  Also, if you're interested in Norse mythology, I'd recommend Joanna Harris' Runemarks, which is her own take on the Eddas. Runemarks was written for juveniles, but I believe she's going to write another set of books with the same theme for adults.
• 
  Rage

  I found this book interesting and I feel like I learned a lot, but I also think the information could have been arranged/presented more effectively. I would have liked to get a simple outline of Snorri's biography and something similar to describe the material in the writing attributed to Snorri. The book spans Snorri's life, but there are a lot of other people involved, and their names can be kind of confusing, and I feel like it would have been easier for me to take everything in if I started out with a simple framework. (For example, there are a lot of feuds. But then people seem to get over it pretty quickly, because they have new enemies that they have to burn down and torture.) Meanwhile, I haven't actually read any of this historical literature that's being described, so I was at a bit of a disadvantage there as well. But, I really enjoyed the connections between these ancient texts and really popular media today (ex/the Lord of the Rings). Brown even discusses how Viking lore has been appropriated by the Nazis and again by neo-Nazi white pride types.
• 
  Frederick

  Outstanding! I recommend this read for anyone interested in Norse mythology. It is very interesting to note that so much of what we know or think we know about what the Vikings actually believed comes from one writer who had an agenda named Snorri, an Icelander and a Christian. This is a must read for Icelandic history, Norse mythology, and a detailed biography of what is known about Snorri.
• 
  David

  Finally, finished this slog of a book. It was a meandering mess, and while the brief interludes of the fascinating means of governance, the day-to-day life of Iceland, and the intricacies of skaldic verse were fascinating, it didn't make up for the schizophrenic mess of the rest of the book. I can't recommend this. Also, I didn't need retellings of Norse myths, as who, having chose to read a book on the life of Snorri Sturluson without already being intimately familiar with the Prose Edda and the Helmskringla? I'm not sure who she thought the audience of this book would be. Do not recommend.
• 
  Orpheus

  İki ders arasındaki boş vakti kütüphanede geçirdiğim günlerden birinde, Alman Edebiyatı raflarında gezinirken bu kırmızı ciltli kitap dikkatimi çekti. Belli ki yanlış rafa konmuş, ne yazarın ne de içeriğin Alman edebiyatıyla uzaktan yakından alakası var. Ama ne iyi olmuş, ben yanlışlıkla denk gelmişim bu kitaba, ödünç almışım, okumuşum.
  
  
  http://1000kitap.com/gonderi/45703901 Buradaki incelememde söylediğim gibi İskandinav Mitolojisi ve Vikingler benim yeni yeni giriş yaptığım bir hobiydi. Ardı ardına yukarıdaki linkteki kitabı,
  https://1000kitap.com/kitap/dokuz-diy... ve
  https://1000kitap.com/kitap/iskandina... kitabını okudum.
  
  Bu kitaplarda sık sık bahsedilen ve anlatılan neredeyse her şeye kaynak olarak gösterilen bir isim vardı: Snorri Sturluson. Snorri, İzlandalı bir tarihçi olarak geçirdiği hayatında, şiir olarak söylenen ama yazılı edebiyata geçirilmemiş hikayeleri, genelde Vikinglerle ilgili, elbette kendinden de bir şeyler katarak derleyen bir yazardır, kısacası bu mitolojinin Homeros'udur.
  
  Snorri'yle tanışmam bu şekildeydi, bir hevesle Nesir Edda'sını da okudum. (
  http://1000kitap.com/gonderi/47294868) Hala bir şeylerin eksik olduğunu hissederken karşıma bu kitabın çıkması, şanslı olduğumun göstergesi sanırım.
  
  2012 yılının kitabı seçilen bu kitapta Snorri'nin hayatı, siyaset ve politikayla ilgisi, nerede ve ne zaman, neler yazdıkları, başına gelenler ve mitolojinin oluşumu detaylı bir şekilde anlatılmış. Hatta diyebiliriz ki, kitap, alt başlıktan belli olduğu üzere, sadece Snorri'nin hayatına ve Nesir Edda'yı yazışına odaklanmış.
  
  Yazarımız, aslında bir Tolkien hayranı ve aynı zamanda üniversitesinde mitoloji dersi alan biriyken, Gandalf ismine, Nesir Edda'da denk gelmesi üzerine araştırmaya dalıp böyle bir kitap çıkarmıştır ortaya. Bilinmesi gereken ne varsa eklemiş, üstüne bir de Tolkien'in mitolojisiyle Nordiklerin karşılaştırmasını bile yapmış. Aradaki benzerlik dikkat çekici, hakikaten.
  
  Kitapta, Snorri'nin yaşadığı yıllarda (12-13.yy) İzlanda'nın politik durumu ve İngiltere'nin 1940 yılında İzlanda'yı işgali dahi anlatılmış ve kitap boyunca, bunların yanında, Snorri'nin hayatına dair görsel buluntular da eklenmiş. Dilin akıcı olmasına ek olarak, görseller ve sayfa sayfa kanıtlarla desteklenen bilgiler, kitabı okunur kılıyor.
  
  İçerik olarak tamamen mitoloji odaklı olmadığı için herkesi çekmeyebilir. Yani, demek istediğim, kitabı okurken "birkaç mitolojik hikaye öğreneyim" beklentisinde olmamanız gerektiği. Elbette mitolojik hikayelere yer verilmiş, ama bu hikayelerin Snorri'nin hayatıyla ilgisi olup olmadığı incelenmiş, Snorri'nin o hikayeyi uydurmuş olabileceği tartışılmış ve bu tür görüşlere kanıtlar sunulmuş. Dolayısıyla, mitoloji neydi, ne halde geldi, nasıl geldi, bunları öğrenmek istiyorsanız kitap sizin için biçilmiş kaftan.
  
  Bu bilgilendirici incelememi de burada bitiriyorum. Sonsöz olarak, bence incelemelerin amacı bu olmalı. Edebi incelemeler tabii ki de muhteşem, ama gerçekten okumayı düşündüğüm bir kitap varsa ve kitap hakkında sadece birkaç özlü söz okuyabiliyorsam, bu bana yetmez. Vakit ayırıp bilgilendirici inceleme yazanlara da teşekkürler, çok işe yarıyorsunuz.
  
  Keyifli okumalar
• 
  Laura

  Overall, I thought it was a well executed and well researched book. Going into it, I knew it was more about medieval Iceland and the larger than life figure of Snorri Sturluson, so there were no surprises there. The semi-egalitarianism and love of manuscripts in medieval Iceland definitely surprised me though and I enjoyed the time dedicated to talking about the various manuscripts, poems, and sagas that the Icelanders put to page. Snorri's life was also interesting and his role in the downfall of Iceland's independence was more than I expected, even if there are many unknowns. Parts of the book were very dry and left my attention wandering. The ending also was a little off-kilter for me. The resurgence of popularity for Snorri's works is important to the overall theme, but how those works became twisted into Germanic folklore and Wagner and Grimm's philology and then all of the Tolkien's works didn't really sit with the rest of the book. So I liked it, but had some weak spots. Definitely a book with lots of notes.
• 
  Chris Linehan

  I thoroughly appreciated this book. It’s not as dry as reading commentaries on the sagas and not as dumbed down as some books on mythology that seem to be aimed at an adolescent audience. I love how Brown weaved the biography of Snorri Sturluson into the myths he compiled and created. I was expecting more myth and less biography. But, I think I prefer the approach that she took with the book.
  
  She wades into the waters of how Tolkien and Gaiman have built onto the mythology. I think she was less successful in this endeavor than in incorporating the Sturluson biography, but it is still an interesting approach to the myths.
• 
  Naomi Toftness

  The beginning was super interesting- and then it quickly tapered off to be a series of hard to keep track of Norwegian and Icelandic names. Not a great introductory book for someone who is not history-focused. This book is geared toward readers who would like to know the minute details of Snorri, not the interesting facts of how Tolkien/Lewis/etc. adapted the stories to become the fantasy genre we know now.
• 
  Rebecca

  Overall I enjoyed this biography. I found it to be well written and informative. However some of the retellings of the myths seemed a bit unnecessary to me. I do think I learned a good deal about Snorri however, and seeing how Norse Mythology has shifted over the years and been reimagined was also interesting.
• 
  Alan Driscoll

  I can't speak for its historical accuracy, but Song of the Vikings does a fantastic job of fleshing out the period and characters that shaped what we know of Norse Mythology. Far from being a grim and cold epic, this is a pleasant, readable bit of popular history that I'd recommend to anyone with even a passing interest in the topic.
• 
  Wampus Reynolds

  Scholarly and dense, but with a good sense of the fun contained within the stories and poems of this Icelandic power player of the 14th century. The smart parting thought at the end was satisfying and summarized what can sometimes feel overwhelming in its guesstimates of the chronology of one man. Recommended for sure.
• 
  Rick Jones

  A great overview of Snorri Snurlson, a foundational figure in mythmaking in the Western world. Brown covers the chaos and eye for an eye of 13th century Iceland, and places Snorri fully as a man of his time, complicated, flawed, and victim of a doom of his own making. But as someone who reimagined the Norse gods, Snorri's gifts keep giving, some 600 years later.
• 
  Mark Watkins

  a great romp through medieval Iceland and Snorri Sturleson, the man responsible for much of what we know about Viking mythology.
• 
  Libby Beyreis

  This is a enjoyable read that really gives a clear context for how and when the Icelandic sagas (and in fact pretty much everything we know about Norse mythology) were written. It's also a fun overview of the life of Snorri Sturleson, who it turns out was kind of a jackass - but a skilled writer and poet. Recommended for anyone interested in the Icelandic sagas and/or Norse mythology (although possibly a little basic for those who have already dug into this history).
• 
  Anastasia

  This book was invaluable for research i am doing on Snorri and his impact on world's literature (not just fantasy). Some reviews here complain that there are no myths in this book... probably because this book is about MAKING of the myths. How Snorri became a writer in 12th century. And what became of his stories. His EDDA and its poetic tidbits were translated and retranslated from runes to Icelandic to Norse to Latin to German to English to Russian etc, were paraphrased by generations to come. Manuscripts mentioned in the book were so powerful and inspiring, contained such imaginative writings, they spawned myths as they are currently known.
  If i wanted to read "original myths", i would read known translated versions of Snorri's Edda- "Codex Wormanus" or Younger Edda, a translation of "Arna-Magnæan manuscripts 242". or their "viking songs" counterpart - Konungsbók, better known as Poetic Edda.
  Nancy Marie did an excellent job of compiling Snorri's life in chronological order and putting his life's ambitions into perspective. I knew that he grew up in the house of Jón Loftsson and possibly under the tutelage of Sæmundur the Wise, but i did not know how long he stayed with his foster family, that he was in close contact with such learned and coning men of the era, or that his wedding is possibly described in Laxdaela Saga.
  The book is not a gripping read, but interesting and informative never the less.
  On the personal I think one of the earliest "borrowers" of Snorri's was Paul Henri Mallet, who freely translated the EDDA in book called "Northern antiquities: or, A description of the manners, customs, religion and laws of the ancient Danes, and other northern nations; including those of our own Saxon ancestors. With a translation of the Edda, or system of runic mythology, and other pieces, from the ancient Islandic tongue". As one writer put it in a book "A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century" "to Mallet belongs the credit of first exciting that interest in Scandinavian antiquity which has enriched the prose and poetry not only of England but of Europe"
  Era of Romanticism can be attributed to authors Mallet was translating -among which Snorri, Haraldr Sigurðarson (of Harald Hardrådes saga) and Morkinskinna (the rotten vellum). you can say GAMAVISUR was one of the most important poems translated into Russian
  
  Nancy Marie Brown well deserves Mythopoeic Award for her book
• 
  Ashley

  Phew! This was one rough for me but rewarding nonetheless.
  
  As someone who has always been intrigued by Icelandic and Nordic culture but doesn't know enough about their mythology, I thought this would be an interesting book to try out, so I was happy to win a copy from Goodreads. I was nervous at first and actually asked some previous reviewers before I entered if I should even bother without having any real background knowledge, but people said to try it out, so here I am.
  
  The truth is that, having some knowledge of the Norse and Icelandic mythological worlds *will* really be a big advantage to you going into this. I had to stop several times to either look up terms and figures or to go back and make sure I was still following things correctly. That wasn't a problem with what the author was doing with her writing, which was actually quite clear and engaging. It was simply a problem with me being something of a moron, at least in this area.
  
  The story of Snorri and of Iceland mythology in general was really fascinating, and I felt invested as a reader pretty much from the start. I wouldn't have kept going when I left lost if I hadn't been enjoying the book overall. I loved reading not just about the myths and the stories they tell but about *why* and *how* they came to be, which is something I don't think I've ever read about myth cycles in other cultures. That's a really fascinating angle and gave me a lot of enjoyment. The issue I had was that there were too many times when I genuinely couldn't tell if I was reading a history text or an opinion piece or a work of fiction. As a historian, I look for citations and clear statements of fact in writing; "Song of the Vikings" doesn't seem to have much use for those. How does the reader -- *especially* someone like me, who is going into this having to trust the author's knowledge in this area -- tell the veracity of any statement? That was frustrating.
  
  Even still, I did genuinely enjoy the text. I'm going to give the author the benefit of the doubt regarding accuracy unless and until I can find evidence otherwise for all of the "may" and "perhaps" statements. The book sucked me in and got me to care about a topic that I wouldn't ordinarily have a ton of interest in. I would almost certainly have not picked this book up off the shelf in my local bookstore, but having read it, I now plan to seek out others on the topic. That's a pretty high compliment for any author and book in my view.
• 
  Justin

  I wrote this review for the Historical Novel Review, where it was first published.
  
  Norse mythology has long held the fascination of historians, writers, and artists. We know of Odin, Loki, and Thor. We know of Ragnarok and Valhalla and Fenrir. We know of Valkyries and Vikings. The literary, musical, and cinematic worlds have all benefited from delving these depths. And Snorri Sturluson stands at the heart of it all.
  
  His name is known almost exclusively to scholars of Scandinavian history and culture. Indeed, one might expect a book about him and his writings to be at best esoteric knowledge of little value to anyone outside of academia, or at worst to be terribly boring. Not so, not with Brown’s treatment of this fascinating character.
  
  Had Snorri been nothing more than a successful (if over-reaching) 13th-century Icelandic chieftain, his name would be relegated to the dustiest of bookshelves. But he was also a skald and a writer of genius proportions. And it is in this capacity that we owe him a tremendous debt. He is our main—and often only— source for all the stories we know of the Viking’s pagan religion. His sagas and poems give us the tales of Thor and his hammer, two-faced Loki, the Midgard Serpent, the rainbow bridge, Ragnarok, Yggrdrasil the ash tree, and so many more.
  
  Brown weaves the biography of Snorri with the worlds of Iceland and Norway, saga-writing, and skaldic-poetry composition. She builds a rich world for the reader to explore. I was particularly fascinated by her closing chapters in which she outlines the influence Snorri’s work has had on such disparate developments as German nationalism, J.R.R. Tolkien and his literary cabal (Gandalf is patterned after Odin, and each dwarf’s name is pulled from Snorri’s work), and the birth of the fantasy genre, with its werewolves, undead, elves, and dwarves. Recommended.
• 
  Paul

  Who the heck is Snorri Sturluson? I had no idea until reading this book but I was amazed to find the impact that this writer of 13th Century Icelandic sagas has had on literature. The book provides a very detailed narrative of Snorri's life while making references to the effect that events were having on his work. There are also some similarities drawn between real people and the mythic characters that Snorri brought to life. There are a few short snippets of his sagas and some Nordic mythology is reviewed but this is a book about Snorri, not his work. There are numerous references to the Prose Edda and other works so it might be helpful to the reader if they have actually read one or more of Snorri's sagas prior to reading this book.
  
  Modern authors have drawn heavily from Snorri. What I found most interesting is the constant tension between fire and ice in Snorri's writing and this appears in George R.R. Martin's works. Neil Gaiman's American Gods is also based on Snorri's Nordic mythology. Snorri even influenced design motifs popularized during the American Arts and Crafts movement in the work of William Morris. However, the greatest borrower was J.R.R. Tolkien. Characters from his popular works were lifted directly from Snorri. Even the concept of "one ring" comes from a story of Odin and Loki in the Volsunga Saga. The structure of Skaldic poetry was shown to be intricate and complex; the formation of which was like building a puzzle. Puzzles and riddles appear often in Tolkien's work. Those of us that enjoy modern epic fantasies owe some thanks to Snorri.
  
  After reading Song of the Vikings, I have a new appreciation for Nordic contributions to our language, literature and culture.