# The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún



## Arda Frog (Apr 2, 2009)

> The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún is a previously unpublished work by J.R.R. Tolkien, written while Tolkien was Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford during the 1920s and ‘30s, before he wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It makes available for the first time Tolkien’s extensive retelling in English narrative verse of the epic Norse tales of Sigurd the Völsung and The Fall of the Niflungs. It includes an introduction by J.R.R. Tolkien, drawn from one of his own lectures on Norse literature, with commentary and notes on the poems by Christopher Tolkien.


*The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun (Hardcover)*
by J.R.R. Tolkien (Author), Christopher Tolkien (Editor) 
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt *(May 5, 2009)*
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0547273428
ISBN-13: 978-0547273426

http://www.amazon.com/Legend-Sigurd-Gudrun...1986&sr=1-1

*The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun Deluxe Edition (Hardcover)*
by J.R.R. Tolkien (Author), Christopher Tolkien (Editor)
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt *(June 2, 2009)*
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0547296282
ISBN-13: 978-0547296289

http://www.amazon.com/Legend-Sigurd-Gudrun...8019&sr=1-3


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## Arda Frog (May 6, 2009)

Anyone pick this up yet?

I'm waiting for my deluxe copy from Amazon, but that will not arrive until June.

I've seen the standard version on the shelves of my local bookstore!


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## chrysophalax (May 6, 2009)

I'm expecting it any day now!


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## Arda Frog (May 8, 2009)

Here is a detailed review by Tom Shippey (Road to Middle Earth & Author of the Century)

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article6232731.ece


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## Gothmog (May 8, 2009)

I have just started reading the book. I will leave Shippey's review until after I have formed my own view of it


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## Illuin (May 9, 2009)

Just got mine today from B&N. Probably won't have time to read it until the summer though .


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## Erestor Arcamen (May 18, 2009)

Borders had it 30% off, and I had a $15 dollar gift card so I got it for like $3.17


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## GuardianRanger (May 19, 2009)

I didn't know it was coming until I saw the post in the TORN newsletter.

I'm looking forward to a new Tolkien book.


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## Arda Frog (Jun 4, 2009)

The deluxe is out! I got mine from Amazon today!


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## Prince of Cats (Jun 8, 2009)

Hey TTF,

I want to order this book but Amazon doesn't describe the difference between the standard and deluxe versions. Could someone tell me what the deluxe has over the standard?

Thanks!
POC


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## Illuin (Jun 10, 2009)

Usually with Tolkien books, _The Deluxe_ has the nice binding and the engraved lettering on the hardcover itself. It usually has some kind of slick slipcover as well. It's more for collecting. The standard has the usual paper jacket with the title and illustrations (that annoying thing that goes right into the trash), but the actually hardcover is plain & boring. With Tolkien, I always get multiple copies; usually the standard for reading, and the deluxe for...._erm_.....sitting there forever - you know -for the kids that I don't have. Hey, if I know I'm going to croak for some reason, *I promise* I'll give them all to you guys in the TTF. So be nice to me - I have that 1977 First Edition beautiful hardcover Silmarillion in brand new condition (never even read - safe in a shadow box) .


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## Arda Frog (Jun 10, 2009)

I have three deluxe editions...Hurin, Tales From the Perilous Realm, and Sigurd. And they are my reading copies. (I don't usually buy multiple copies of books).


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## musicofainur (Dec 23, 2009)

Anyone finished reading the book yet?
How is it?
I'm thinking of purchasing a copy.


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## margi (Jan 21, 2010)

musicofainur said:


> Anyone finished reading the book yet?
> How is it?
> I'm thinking of purchasing a copy.


 

I think of purchasing it too. It is a pitty that it took too long to be translated in my language. Please any opinions!!


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## Prince of Cats (Jan 21, 2010)

I really love the book

It's very brief about everything that happens. Many passages you have to re-read to be sure what occurred. It moves very quickly.

The book looks large but it's a pretty quick read; it's in an alliteration-based poetry format with stanzas listed vertically on each page. If you're very into it the entire book can be read in a day.

That said, it's stories are great - and so is the introduction. I think it's worth the buy just for the intro if you are into literature history and don't already know much on the subject of 'eddaic poetry'


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## Olorissen (Aug 22, 2011)

I'm winding my way through it at a leisurely pace - it helps keep track of the characters if nothing else. It's a good book, very given to snapshots of what's going on (The Professor says so himself in some lecture notes given as part of the intro) rather than comprehensive narratives, but a nice glimpse at the literature world of Scandanavia. Given that it's explained in the book how so much of the poetry form is dependent on the language used (not only the alliteration but the rising and falling rhythm of the words), it's a huge testimony to Tolkien's skill as a wordsmith that he manages to maintain something of the rhythm and alliteration described even in translation.

It's also quite interesting to see one or two of the places that Tolkien might have got his ideas from - the legend has a dragon pronouncing a curse as it dies (on gold though, not on a family), seven rings being forged and bringing misfortune to the kings that possess them, and a sword that is broken and reforged to be used by a descendant to achieve mighty things. These are all fairly tangential to the actual narrative (and possibly have their antecedents in Norse myths more generally), but it's intriguing nonetheless.


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