Product Description
Many wonderful Norse stories were originally compiled for the first time by H.A. Guerber in Myths of the Norsemen in 1909. Borrowing from this and other classic sources, Hammer of Thor contains more than two dozen bold and exciting myths and legends from Norse mythology.

This special edition begins with the Norse legend of creation and ends with a comparison between Norse and Greek mythology. Between, scores of larger than life heroes jump out of the pages to boast of their glorious adventures and achievements.

Roam the realm of Asgard, in the company of the greatest heroes to ever populate the heavens. Follow the mighty Thor as he smites his enemies with his wondrous hammer. Bow to King Odin, wise and feared leader of the Norse gods. Then skulk along darkened passages with Loki, the most mischievous of the gods. Claim your honor before the coming of Ragnarök, when the mighty leave this world behind to claim their ultimate reward. ... Read more

Product Description

In the past few decades, interest in the rich and varied literature of early Scandinavia has prompted a great deal of interest in its background: its origins, social and historical context, and relationship to other medieval literatures. Until the 1980s, however, there was a distinct lack of scholarship in the area, so in 1985, Carol J. Clover and John Lindow brought together some of the most ambitious and distinguished Old Norse scholars to contribute essays for a collection that would finally fill the void of a comprehensive guide to the field.

The contributors summarize and comment on scholarly work in the major branches of the field: eddic and skaldic poetry, family and kings' sagas, courtly writing, and mythology. Taken together, their judicious and well-written essays, each with a full bibliography, make up this vital survey of Old Norse literature in English - a basic reference work that has stimulated much research and helped to open up the field to a wider academic readership.

This volume has become an essential text for instructors, and twenty years later, is now being republished as part of the Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching (MART) series with a new preface that discusses more recent contributions to the field.

Product Description
Rooted in an oral tradition, fantastic sagas of Norse mythology found their way into print seven centuries ago, in documents known as the Eddas. This volume presents witty and imaginative retellings of 17 of these ancient tales, ranging from the creation of the world to the death of the gods and the world's destruction. Included are Odin's trip to Mimer in search of knowledge, the making of Thor's hammer, the loss of Idun's wondrous apples, and the task of securing the dreaded Fenris-wolf. Brimming with fantasy and authentic Nordic flavor, these legends offer a wonderful sampling of the ancient Icelandic artistry of storytelling.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

NORSE MYTHOLOGY by Hamilton Wright Mabie
Norse Stories, Retold from the Eddas, also known as Norse Mythology: Great Stories from the Eddas, is an 1882 book on Norse mythology by Hamilton Wright Mabie. While never explicitly stated, this book is obviously geared toward a young adult audience.

Norse Stories reads like something of a greatest hits of Norse mythology. There's so much missing: many of the mythos's best-known tales are here, but ripped from the context needed to fully understand them. What is here, though, is well done. Mabie tells the stories well, and he provides some wonderfully rich descriptions. But feels like Mabie went through the Eddas and just ripped out whole pages without making the slightest effort to link things together. He was sloppy, too; an example: here we get "Odin's eyes began to flash" six pages after he trades one for wisdom at Mimir's Well.

In its degree of violence and pessimism, Norse mythology is unmatched throughout the world. Yet Norse Stories has a distinctly positive tone, perhaps due to the book's younger audience. Whatever the reason, this book doesn't really provide the true mood or tone of Norse mythology.

Ultimately, Norse Stories is a collection of well-told stories severely hampered by their lack of context and other limitations. If you're well-versed in Norse mythology, you may enjoy what Mabie does with the stories here. If not, you aren't going to get a coherent understanding of it from Norse Stories. But it shouldn't be difficult to find half a dozen better books on the topic.

excelent book
Excelent book, a documented historical background and well written, with a very complete section about the mythological concepts and deities.

Well told stories for All
Norse Stories Retold from the Eddas (1901, 1902, 1908 & 2006)
a.k.a. Norse Mythology Great Stories from the Eddas (2002)
By Hamilton Wright Mabie

This review will be covering several editions of this work, while the text is the same in all the editions their presentations vary greatly.

A well written book covering seventeen of the more popular Norse Myths from the Eddas. Mr. Mabie had a very engaging style that is palatable for adults and will stillhold the interest of children.

Now, having said this, it must be remembered that this work was originally written in 1882. This was a time when children were not as sheltered from the realities of life and death as they are today. A time when being politically correct meant that you voted for the winner. A time when cholera, small pox and numerous other diseases ran rampant through the population. Children were quite a bit tougher back when this work was written. So if you have a wimpy, sheltered child you may want to find another book for story time. Or try something mindless and milk toast like the Disney Channel.

All the stories are faithfully translated into a readable and entertaining format. While this work can not be considered scholarly, it does convey the spirit of the Norse Era quite well. As a testament to the books quality, few works of any type continue to be published for over a century.

This edition of, "Norse Mythology, Great Stories from the Eddas", 2002, was, (to me anyway), a bit of a disappointment. While the text remained the same as the older editions, the illustrations or lack of them has not. The early 1900's editions are lavishly illustrated with Nordic style gilt work on every page and simple, but powerful water color's throughout the book. The cover was graced with a depiction of a powerful Viking God, (probably Odin), looking proud and imposing. The 2002 paperback editions cover depicts a beardless, nude, neo-Greek Thor battling Jormungand, from the Chapter 9 story, "Thor Goes Fishing". While the cover art is well done, (the 1788 Henry Fuseli painting),this style would be better served on a book of Greek or Roman Myths. The interior illustrations and gilt work of the 2002 edition are nonexistent. This lack of interior illustration transforms a very good book with eye catching pages that add life to the myths into just another paperback.

All and all a nice retelling of the tales but if you can get a copy of the older editions or the 2006 paperback it's well worth it.

In Frith,
Spence

"Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc"
M. Addams

Not for children
This book is a direct transalation with no attempt to make it accessible for young readers.

Depends on your purpose.
It's an alright book, nicely written and does indeed have stories from Norse Mythology. It may or may not be for you though.

If you just want to read the stories cause you like mythology and folktales, then by all means buy it. It's written in with sentences and paragraphs instead of the poetic forms these stories were originally created. To me it seems to be more for a younger age then your average adult, but that doesn't necessarily subtract from the book.

If you were looking to read it for research or personal studies, I'd get a different book. The Eddas may be a little difficult to read at first because of the style of writing, but they are better in terms of research sources. My copies of the Poetic and Prose Edda not only have more details for stories found in this book, but also have stories not put into this book. They also have background notes, definitions of words, and anthropological notes.

As far as I'm concerned it's purpose was more towards entertainment then heavy-duty research. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume begins with a short introduction by Else Ostergard to the amazing finds of garments from the Norse settlement of Herjolfnes in Greenland. It then features chapters on technique - production of the thread, dyeing, weaving techniques, cutting and sewing - by Anna Norgard. Also included are measurements and drawings of garments, hoods, and stockings, with sewing instructions, by Lilli Fransen. A practical guide to making your own Norse garment! ... Read more

Product Description
One of the most arresting stories in the history of exploration, these two Icelandic sagas tell of the discovery of America by Norsemen five centuries before Christopher Columbus. Together, the direct, forceful twelfth-century Graenlendinga Saga and the more polished and scholarly Eirik's Saga, written some hundred years later, recount how Eirik the Red founded an Icelandic colony in Greenland and how his son, Leif the Lucky, later sailed south to explore - and if possible exploit - the chance discovery by Bjarni Herjolfsson of an unknown land. In spare and vigorous prose they record Europe's first surprise glimpse of the eastern shores of the North American continent and the natives who inhabited them. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Vinland Sagas Appraisal
An outstanding read.I've been reading it every year for the last 5 to 8(?).Each time it gets more interesting.As an aside my name is Erickson, and our family does not celebrate Columbus Day, October 12th ..... but, Leif Ericson Day October 9th instead - slightly before Columbus Day ........ by at least 500 years.

Very good but needs to be updated
The Vinland Sagas
The Norse Discovery of America
By Magnusson & Palsson

The Vinland Sagas, like all the Edda's & Sagas, are very difficult to review. The Sagas are what they are, collections of original tales, Myths, family histories & genealogies of Icelandic & Scandinavian origin. They ARE history, good, bad or indifferently, after a thousand years or so, they are history.

Magnusson and Palsson have given us two of the more understandable modern translations with more than adequate footnotes and explanations. The Authors introduction gives you an excellent and informative background on the exploration and colonization of both Greenland & Vinland. At the end of the book the Authors have included a useful glossary like chapter titled, "List of Proper Names". I found it very useful in clarifying individuals with the same or similar names. All in all a must for anyone interested in Norse Lore or early North American exploration.

On a side note, my copy is over 40 years old. I hope that Penguin, (or any other publisher for that matter), will revise the books format and maps. Additionally they need to add some notes or even a chapter on the archaeological finds on this subject that have taken place in the last 40 years.

In Frith,
Spence the Elder

"Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc"
M. Addams

Well done work
The Vinland Sagas are important in that they provide textual background for the Norse discovery of North America in the 10th-11th centuries.However, they present a number of problems from a historical perspective (inconsistency being one of them).This work does not shrink from these issues and addresses them head-on.

The work provides the Greenlanders' Saga first and most scholars today accept this as the older one.This is followed by the Saga of Erik the Red.This is combined with a good introduction.

I would recommend this work, and suggest pairing it with Edgar Polome (ed), "Old Norse Literature and Mythology: A Symposium" (1969) which includes a useful paper comparing the sagas and looking at historical vs non-historical aspects of the sagas.

Very good but needs up dated
The Vinland Sagas
The Norse Discovery of America
By Magnusson & Palsson

The Vinland Sagas, like all the Edda's & Sagas, are very difficult to review.The Sagas are what they are, collections of original tales, Myths, family histories & genealogies of Icelandic & Scandinavian origin. They ARE history, good, bad or indifferently, after a thousand years or so, they are history.

Magnusson and Palsson have given us two of the more understandable modern translations with more than adequate footnotes and explanations. The Authors introduction gives you an excellent and informative background on the exploration and colonization of both Greenland & Vinland. At the end of the book the Authors have included a useful glossary like chapter titled,"List of Proper Names".I found it very useful in clarifying individuals with the same or similar names.All in all a must for anyone interested in Norse Lore or early North American exploration.

On a side note, my copy is over 40 years old. I hope that Penguin, (or any other publisher for that matter), will revise the books format and maps. Additionally they need to add some notes or even a chapter on the archaeological finds on this subject that have taken place in the last 40 years.

In Frith,
Spence

"Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc"
M. Addams

Excellent Intro, Readable Text
This small book is a delightful combination of an excellent introduction that provides tons of background to the sagas themselves with saga text that's very easy to read and follow.

When reading texts that have their origins so very long ago, I find it quite helpful to get a thorough and easy to understand background on what I'm about to read.The LONG introduction to these texts does just that and I thank the authors for their efforts in putting these texts in perspective for us.

And unlike some saga texts I've read, these are very easy to follow in their English form.Some English versions of Viking sagas are a real struggle to read, but these were both easy and enjoyable.

I bought this book in particular to gain some insight into the Viking exploration of North America (Vinland) and I'm totally satisfied with it. I now would like to know if these authors have published their renditions of other Viking sagas ... theirs are so much better than others I've read, I'd look forward to reading more. ... Read more

Product Description
By the author of 12 volumes of poetry and the novel "Beat Hotel", this autobiography describes the life of a man who was for over 50 years at the centre of creative culture and homosexual subculture in three continents. Friend and secretary of W.H.Auden in 1939, he became an intimate friend of James Baldwin and lived with Tennessee Williams during the writing of "The Glass Menagerie". He spent time at the Beat Hotel with William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, in Tangier with Paul and Jane Bowles, in Spain with Robert Graves, and in Greece with Leonard Cohen. In the late 1960s he moved to California, where he formed a literary alliance with Charles Bukowski and did bodybuilding with Arnold Schwarzenegger. He presents vivid portraits of the great writers of his time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

From the Back Cover
Harold Norse is the author of 12 volumes of poetry and a novel, Beat Hotel.His selected poems, Hotel Nirvana, was a National Book Award nominee in 1974.His numerous grants include one from the National Endowment for the Arts.He lives in San Francisco. Of his writing, Christopher Street said: "Norse's work is one of the foundations of a post-World War II tradition that includes the prose art of John Rechy and Jean Genet."Anis Nin wrote "I enjoyed the Memoirs tremendously... So well written so honest.. The Memoirs are a live and powerful".Of his latest volume, Love Poems, Booklist wrote: "A major work of gay literature".Library Journal concurred "An elder statesman of homoerotic verse, making this volume an important addition to poetry collections".And James Baldwin wrote: "If light ever enters the hearts of men, Harold Norse will be one of those who have helped to set it there.

The Best Writer you've never heard of...
Over the past decade or so, The Beats have become white hot...so much so imitators have come crawling out of the woodwork with their own bad poetry or semi-autobiographical tales of the East Village.

Make no mistake about it: Harold Norse is the real thing...and more. From Barry Miles's book, The Beat Hotel: "...for a brief period -- from just after the publication of Howl in 1957 until the building was sold in 1963 -- it was home to Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Brion Gysin, Peter Orlovsky, Harold Norse, and a host of other luminaries of the Beat Generation."

Norse was there -- no only as witness -- but, much more importantly, particpant. And he wrote. Here's one of my favorite parts of the book:

"In February 1960, before moving into the Beat Hotel, I began doing ink drawings and cut-up poetry at the Hotel Univers on rue St. Grégoire de Tours next door to Edouard Roditi. He had often put me up at number 8 where, he said, Théodore de Banville had rented a room for Rimbaud.

Shortly after I moved into the Beat Hotel in April, I wrote Sniffing Keyholes, a sex/dope scene between a muscular black youth called Melo and a blond Russian princess called Z.Z. It was my first narrative cut-up. I felt I had broken through semantic and psychological barriers; hashish and opium helped with the aleatory process.

My experience of breaking new ground alarmed and exhilarated me. For awhile I believed I had lost my reason but didn’t consider it a great loss—the mind works in mysterious ways. Actually, word, image, and perception come together in a simultaneous jumble, not, as grammar and logic would have us believe, in a linear structure. I telescoped language in word clusters in a way James Joyce had pioneered, but with this difference: I allowed the element of chance to determine novel and surprising configurations of language. John Cage had done it in music, Pollock in painting. When I showed it to Brion Gysin he raved, “You’ve done something new! It’s a gas! Bill must see this right away.”

Bill Burroughs came down to my room. “Well, Harold, Brion says you’ve written a very funny cut-up. I’d love to see it.” In his fedora and topcoat he sat at the edge of my bed reading the piece, exploding in little sniffs and snorts, his equivalent of lusty guffaws. “This is marvelous,” he said, looking up. “You must show it to Girodias.” Maurice Girodias, owner of Olympia Press, had published Naked Lunch; his father had published Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer. But I wasn’t so sure he’d go mad about a few typewritten pages of cut-up. Burroughs disagreed. “I’m calling him right away to get you an appointment.”

A day or two later I trekked over to the office a few blocks away on the rue St. Séverin. I was right. Girodias read it and thought it similar to Burroughs. He wanted to see more but didn’t sound enthusiastic. “He missed the point,” snorted Burroughs. “He rejected Naked Lunch the first time it was offered to him.”

Poetry (Norse is one of Ferlinghetti's "Pocket Poets"), cut-up, essays, important correspondence (his letters to William Carlos Williams have been published, and soon to be are his letters to Charles Bukowski) and, most recently, this memoir; it's a fascinating look into the life of a writer who can't be pigeonholed into any category, whether it's Beat, Gay, or Counterculture. Norse is more than any label the critics will try and stick on his forehead. If you ask me, he's one of the 20th century's most overlooked writers, and with the paperback edition of this fine work, maybe His Day is just around the corner. ... Read more

Product Description
In this exciting volume, the stormy mythologies of the Nordic world are brought to life. Complete with 160 colour images, including superb fine art paintings of the classic stories, this evocative and detailed encyclopedia of the myths and legends of the Nordic peoples will provide the perfect introduction to this fascinating subject for students, school libraries and the general reader who loves passionate tales of romance and derring-do. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Lots of Details
The entries in this book are set up similar to an encyclopedia, which makes this an easy refernce book.Not only does it have beautiful illustrations, but there are also photographs of wood carvings, sculptures, etc. from various museums.

I loved the Norse family trees and other diagrams: Odin, The Aesir, The Children of Loki, Yggdrasil, The Family of Sigurd, Thor, and The Vanir.

The contents of the book include: Nature Spirits, Treasures and Talismans, Norse Heroes, The Valkyries, Sorcery and Spells, Tragic Lovers, Rings of Power, and Ragnarok.

I also recommend Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
A trove of traditional lore, this Icelandic prose epic tells of love, jealousy, vengeance, war, and the mythic deeds of the dragonslayer, Sigurd the Volsung. The saga is of special interest to admirers of Richard Wagner, who drew heavily upon this Norse source in writing his Ring Cycle. With its magical ring acquired by the hero, and the sword to be reforged, the saga has also been a primary source for writers of fantasy such as J.R.R. Tolkien and romantics such as William Morris. Byock's comprehensive introduction explores the history, legends, and myths contained in the saga and traces the development of a narrative that reaches back to the period of the great folk migrations in Europe when the Roman Empire collapsed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (31)

Read it in class
It's a book that I needed for class.I didn't care for it that much, but I usually don't like books I need to read for school.

Very Interesting
A very readable translation of the Volsung Saga by the distinguished scholar Jesse Byock.An important source for considerable later work, notably Wagner's Ring Cycle, the Sage of the Volsungs is enjoyable in its own right.Featuring considerable supernatural and mythic elements, and a strong sense of fatalism, the Saga of the Volsungs is different from Sagas like Njal's Saga which feature Icelandic society around the time the Sagas were written down.Its also interesting to compare this Saga with the Nibelungenlied, the medieval German epic based on the same story.Many of the differences reflect the differences between the social world of medieval Iceland and feudal southern Germany.This edition features a nice introduction by Byock providing the history of the text and historical context.The footnotes and glossary are excellent.

Great translation of a great saga
The Saga of the Volsungs was written in the thirteenth century by an unknown Norse author. The story itself, however, is much older and parts are found throughout many Norse stories prior to this version. The story tells of Sigurd the dragonslayer, a man unlike any in the world, and unsurpassed in any way. His familial heritage is recounted, as is his marriage with Gudrun and their children, and after his death, the fates of Gudrun, her brothers, children, and many others including Attila the Hun and Ermanaric, King of the Goths.

The value of this saga on literature is enormous. It influenced the German Nibelungenlied, Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, and Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and his recently published The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, among others. Many aspects of the saga are reminiscent in literature - a ring of power; a broken sword that is reforged to perform a specific task; a group of kings and warriors attempting to pull a sword out of a tree with only one person succeeding; a horse descended from Odin's Sleipnir making it one of the best horses in the world; a dragon guarding a vast amount of gold and wealth.

As entertainment, The Saga of the Volsungs is up there, with a wonderful story. Of course, the writing is a bit different than most people are accustomed to, being several centuries old and written much differently than today. While some versions may prove a tad difficult and uninteresting to the casual reader, Jesse Byock does an excellent job making it accessible to the common reader while still staying relatively true to the original.

Aside from the entertainment value of the saga, it offers insight into the world of the Norse and Norse literature such as kennings, which replaced a noun with a circumlocution - "battle-sweat" instead of "blood", "sleep of the sword" instead of "death", "bane of wood" replacing "fire", etc. This specific translation of the saga maintains many of the kennings which liven up the saga and aid in its unique style. And, of course, it offers glimpses of Norse mythology as Odin plays many roles in the story, as do the norns and valkyries, as well as magic runes and Norse sorcery and, humorously, a senna - that is, a contest of insults including this zinger:

Sinfjotli replied: You probably do not remember clearly now when you were the witch on Varinsey and said that you wanted to marry a man and you chose me for the role of husband...I sired nine wolves on you at Laganess, and I was the father of them all. (As can be surmised, he is speaking to another man)

The Saga of the Volsungs is an entertaining read, and at roughly 110 pages is not very time consuming and offers a quick glimpse into what some of the Norse valued and how they perceived kingship, courtship, and war.

Career Conflict Ends in Tragedy
This story, of the line of Norse heroes called the Volsungs, seems both shrouded in the mists of time and strangely modern, especially in the tragic conflict between the two lovers, Sigurd and Brunhild. He is the last of his line, a favorite of Odin, slayer of the dragon Fafnir, whose name is fated to live forever, "every where north of the Greek Sea." She is a shield maiden whose devotion to battle has earned her the divine task of plucking the fallen from the battle field, but she sleeps surrounded by a circle of flame for disobeying Odin. Sigurd rescues her and rouses her from sleep by cutting the armor from her body. He rides away and through sorcery is made to forget her. Brynhilds grief and wrath knows no bounds and she brings two dynasties to ruin because she cannot have him. Why is this modern? The story contains some of the psychological elements that plague many relationships today: conflicts between goals, a woman who wants a more proactive role than tradition allows and so loses her chance at true love. Today Brynhild would find someone more suitable and adjust, in legend she fixates and dies.
The introduction provides valuable historical context and the translation by Jesse Byock is very close to the original which tightens the text's bonds to the past, a plus because this saga has been retold many times.

A bloody medieval soap opera
Blood! Betrayal! Brynhild! You get all of these and more in the exciting Saga of the Volsungs. The book starts with an introduction, which all newbies *must* read. You will get an understanding of the peoples of Northern Europe and geography. (It will also help you understand the Nibelungenlied.) Next is the fascinating/creepy story of family feuds that make up this saga. The translator kindly replaced some of the more obscure chapter headings with ones that are more relevant to the action in the chapter. (Each renamed chapter is marked with an asterisk.) There is also a footnote section and a very comprehensive glossary of names. (Please, newbies, use the footnotes and glossary!!!!)

I bought this book after enjoying the Nibelungenlied. The Saga of the Volsungs is a pagan-oriented version of the Christian Nibelungenlied. You'll learn about Norse folk beliefs- Odin, valkyries, runes, etc. All in all, a must-have for any fan of mythology and folklore!!!

(Now I'm reading the Prose Edda)

... Read more

Product Description
This major survey of Old Norse-Icelandic literature and culture demonstrates the remarkable continuity of Icelandic language and culture from medieval to modern times.

• Comprises 29 chapters written by leading scholars in the field
  
• Reflects current debates among Old Norse-Icelandic scholars
  
• Pays attention to previously neglected areas of study, such as the sagas of Icelandic bishops and the fantasy sagas
  
• Looks at the ways Old Norse-Icelandic literature is used by modern writers, artists and film directors, both within and outside Scandinavia
  
• Sets Old Norse-Icelandic language and literature in its wider cultural context

Product Description
An acolyte of Whitman and Hart Crane, and companion and correspondent of W. H. Auden, Tennessee Williams, Charles Bukowski, Allen Ginsberg, Dylan Thomas, and James Baldwin, Norse has never received his due as one of America’s most innovative yet accessible poets. William Carlos Williams called Norse "the best poet of your generation" and pushed Norse toward his groundbreaking work in "the American idiom." Norse was also of the generation that challenged taboo subject matter in American poetry; his poems of gay love have been recognized as among the first and best of their kind. Norse’s novella Beat Hotel described life with Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, and Gregory Corso in a run-down Parisian hotel. This retrospective, I Am In the Hub of the Fiery Force, is a collection of almost seventy years of his poetry, much of it previously unpublished, all of it unavailable. It will be recognized as the culmination of one of America’s most vital lives in modern poetry. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

In the hub of the fiery Norse
I got into Harold Norse after hearing his name mentioned with Bukowski and Beat poets. (He lived at the Beat Hotel in the early 60s with Burroughs & Corso, and he and Bukowski had a mutual admiration society.) If you're into Bukowski and Ginsberg, you'll probably dig Norse.

His topics include travel, sex, love, homosexuality & homophobia, autobiographical vignettes, etc. Some of my favorite poems are: I am in the Hub of the Fiery Force, Bastard Angel, The Bedsheet is Stained with Dreams of You, Masturbation, It Is, Don't Argue with the Sun, Where are those Poems I used to Dream?, and I'm Not a Man. He has a poem about Bukowski called The Worst Thing You Can Say to Him is I Love You, where he really nails Buk.

He started off as a grad student in poetry, writing more traditional poetry in the 30s and 40s, until he became influenced by WC Williams' free verse. Some of his early poetry is a little too traditional for me, but his later stuff is just as raw and wild as the Beats.

For those who want a smaller collection of selected poems, score a copy of Karma Circuit (1958-1966), Penguin Modern Poets 13 (1958-1969) (with Bukowski and Lamantia), Hotel Nirvana (1953-1973), Carnivorous Saint (1941-1976), or The Love Poems (1940-1985). Even with all these smaller collections, though, there are still lots of great poems in the Collected Poems that you don't want to miss out on.

My only complaint is that the book isn't organized much at all. For those who would like a bit more order, here's what I've been able to figure out by comparing with other books:

Pages:
1-70 - Early works, more traditional
* 4-38: THE UNDERSEA MOUNTAINS (pub. 1953, in order & in full)
* 39-69: THE DANCING BEASTS (pub. 1962, in order & mostly complete - 4 poems elsewhere in collection)
99-111 - Published in Karma Circuit
126-136 - Published in Penguin Modern Poets 13
147-187 - Published in Hotel Nirvana
205-275 - CARNIVOROUS SAINT: Gay Poems (1941-1976, in order, many poems elsewhere in book)
* 217-220: Harold in Italy
* 221-228: Paris
* 229-234: Arabian Nights
* 235-238: The Greek Experience
* 264-267: Quickies
281-296 - poems about art
THE LOVE POEMS (1940-1985)
* 302-304: I. New York (1940-1953)
* 305-346: II. Europe & North Africa (1954-1967)
* 346-406: III. California (1968-1979)
* 407-409: IV. Guatemala (1979)
* 409-428: V. California (1980-1985)
* 429-440: VI. Homo (1984-1985)

Harold Norse is a major 20th century poet, spanning across decades of styles and scenes from Auden to Williams to the Beats to Bukowski to Gay Lib.

We're lucky to have this fat book of wild gems.

"i write to make myself real/ from moment to moment"
I could not be more surprised by the lukewarm comments Norse's collection has been garnering. In the post-beat generation poetic era, Norse's work is a reminder that the writer's duty is, above all, to the words and his words can not be further from prosaic. Ranging from love to hate to jealousy, veneration, and admiration, Norse is a man whose emotions only hang on his word choice. He lived a life beyond my powers of imagination not only recording his life through poetry, but he let poetry become his life. Spanning multiple decades, each poem permeates with the sounds and diction of the time that it was written and can be appreciated for that aspect alone. The collection is arranged in a way that the reader can feel the eras passing before their eyes as Norse ages. His odes to his fellow poet friends are some of the best I've read and his insight into a world of social ills is timeless and humbly insightful. For beat appreciators, poet enthusiasts, and anyone looking to read a poet whose fame was never realized as it should have been, I cannot recommend this book enough. Norse awakens the intellect and, at the risk of sounding sentimental, the soul.

A Full Life of Talking--but more Prosaic than Poetic?
I have a biased insight on why Norse is not better known. His style is one of "common everyday speech" as championed by Norse's "teacher and father" William Carlos Williams. It's a valid style, the vernacular opera style of poetry (including Walt Whitman and the Beat Generation too).

But is it ultimately less poetry than prose? Prosaic statement, plodding the pavement, rather than soaring aloft airborne into truer poetry with its images, complexities, dynamisms, controlled-and-creative? Perhaps truer poetry is more-well, poetic than Norse's usual statements: editorials scene-sketchesreportages reminiscences etc.

For me (remember, bias!), too often Norse either just states, or launches into sentimental pseudo-emotion, as here:

"oh the felony of unbuttoned flies / assault and battery of good looks / immorality of being alive / organism of death crime of coming /"[p. 420]

Or (more rarely) it's posingly derivative as from Whitman through Ginsberg:

"Old black Remington noiseless, what shall we type today? / is there room among your keys? for real feelings? cool moods? / "(One could almost ask this second question of too many of Norse's poems...)

At infrequent times Norse does ascend into subtler, more original intensification:

"Are we living / in the same city? / Are we empty-handed, empty-minded / sacks of wind and dust? Believe me,/ he writes, I'm your friend, in spite / "[P. 419]

And at times the Whitmanesque Beatnik rant does become more subtle-supple than just yawping, becomes more autonomous than automatic:

Will someone stop me in the street saying / how wonderful! We don't know each other?! / just walk arm in arm / & never ask our names! / make love at sight! anonymous as monks! / Esperanto lips! / africa in my arms! Near East! [P. 324]

But alas yet more rare are more-controlled, more-creative passages which let the idea speak for itself with the power of understatement:

"I love your eyebrows, said one. / the distribution of your body hair / is sensational, what teeth, said two. / your mouth is cocaine, said three. / your lips, said four, look like sexual organs. / they are, I said. / as I got older features thickened. / the body grew flabby, then / thin in the wrong places, they / all shut up or spoke about life./" [P. 466]

I hope the above series of quotations show my biased insight about mechanical derivative and prosaic "poetry" versus more-poetical intensity which rides aloft on its own integral autonomy...

That said, the 615 pages of this poet's life work were well worth the chance to peruse, to skim, to review, to experience. Even if it was (for me) a journey through relatively few Power Peaks and relatively many Great Plains...

The Difficulty of Harold Norse
Harold Norse was an exceptional poet as can be seen from his first two collections, The Undersea Mountain and The Dancing Beasts, both of which are collected here.Yet with the influence of W. C. Williams and the Beats, his work went down in quality.His later work is sloppy and easy.Much bad Beat poetry is fast and easy to produce, which Norse obviously did.Not, of course, to say that all Beat poetry is bad.When Ginsberg was at his best he was great-the first hundred lines of Howl, Kaddish, "America," "A Supermarket in California," etc.And Norse has at least one great Beat poem, "I am in the Hub of the Fiery Force," from which this Collected takes its name.It is driving and is as great as much Ginsberg.Yet Norse like Ginsberg and many more poets like Lowell, Berryman, and Eliot got sloppy with success and produced more and more third-rate poetry (The Dolphin, Love and Fame, The Four Quartets).Norse produced too much, as can be seen by this collection's hefty six-hundred pages.The first seventy are great and worth buying-poems like "An Episode from Procopius," "On the Steps of the Castillo," "Evocazioni di Roma," and others are exceptional and worth having.But be aware, however, that the other five-hundred and thirty pages are nothing.Those seventy pages are well worth the price of the book.

As many as there are stars in the sky
If he lived anywhere else but in America, he would have received the Nobel Prize by now.But we in the USA have a way of depreciating our best writers, especially if they do not fit into one or another accepted movement, or if they do not conform to government-approved standards of patriotism and "decency."Harold Norse has the enormous range of his mentor, William Carlos Williams, and the verbal dexterity and flip amiability of his compadre, Allen Ginsberg.But in spirit he is perhaps closer to the world poets rather than to any particulat American model--poets like Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda, Reverdy, Ungaretti, Marina Tsvetayeva.Only among these international figures, whose work argues with and deranges the ideological concerns that pre-occupy our best writers, can we finally rank Norse.Many have spoken of his facility and technical mastery, but I think, after reading the whole of this volume, spanning an incredible seventy years, that the impression you come away with is not primarily admiration for a squeaky-clean "line," but you're blown away by the vision--of language and society--displayed by this unique poet.If we can't get him the Nobel Prize, at the very least we could try to secure him the Poet Laureateship of his adopted city--San Francisco.He's already the Pope of Albion Street. ... Read more

Product Description
A Selection Of Tales, With Illustrations, To Include: True And Untrue - The Old Dame And Her Hen - East Of The Sun, And West Of The Moon - Boots Who Ate A Match With The Troll - Boots Who Made The Princess Say, 'That's A Story' - The Twelve Wild Ducks - The Giant Who Had No Heart In His Body - The Fox As Herdsman - The Cat On The Dovrefell - Princess On The Glass Hill - The Cock And Hen - How One Went Out To Woo - The Two Step-Sisters - Buttercup - Taming The Shrew - Shortshanks - Gudbrand On The Hill-Side - The Blue Belt - Why The Bear Is Stumpy-Tailed - One's Own Children Are Always Prettiest - The Three Princesses Of Whiteland - The Cock, The Cuckoo, And The Black-Cock - Rich Peter The Pedlar - Boots And The Troll - The Lad Who Went To The North Wind - The Three Billy-Goats Gruff - Well Done And Ill Paid - The Husband Who Was To Mind The House - Dapplegrim - The Seven Foals - Bushy Bride - Boots And His Brothers ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

My son listens to this over and over
....and I'm happy, because it is a lovely audiobook that will not drive an adult up the wall. As for the music, mentioned by one reviewer, there is very, very little of it, and perfectly fine. Just short clips at the beginning of a story or a few bars during times of tension. There is nothing gruesome or graphic, and thus is suitable for introducing little ones to fine English, a well-done reading, and the core Norse myths. Are far as "dark", my son found the very personal peril of Peter Rabbit caught in a net in the garden more upsetting, and listened to these adventures unflapped. He likes to listen during meal times, and will pick this OVER A VIDEO. Need I say more?

Hammer of the Gods
Two of the four music composers used on this CD are out of place. The actor reading the stories makes a good go of it. The stories are great, however this is not a reading from the ancient sagas, simply a retelling of the stories. None the less a good audio book overall. Suitable for all ages.

Dark brooding tales that hold your interest
My family (me, 3 boys ages 8,7,6 and my 75 year old mother) listened to these Norse tales on a long car trip. They are dark and pessimistic but also fascinating as a glimpse at another world view and creation mythology. My six year old doesn't like really scary tales but listened to this with interest. Most of it was probably over the younger kids heads but the booming kettle drums and the stories, for example, of giant wolves tied in unbreakable chains until the ending of the world kept their attention.The recording does suffer from some variability in the sound level, at one point being too soft to hear over the road noise. Good for kids who like fantasy and myths. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume presents twenty essays by leading scholars of Old Norse which bring into focus the nature of learned traditions - both oral and written - in medieval Scandinavia and the interpretation and re-interpretation of them over time. Theoretical frameworks for understanding Old Norse literature is the initial topic of the collection, which then moves on to present recent work on Old Norse myth and society; current perspectives on oral traditions in performance and text; and reflections on medieval ideas about language, both vernacular and Latin. The collection is rounded off by a section on prolonged traditions - the transformation of local and imported traditions into new literary forms. Individual essays in the volume offer significant primary research as well as reconsiderations of key issues in scholarship, their subjects ranging widely, both conceptually and chronologically, around the twin themes of learning and understanding. Like the research of the volume's honorand, Margaret Clunies Ross, Learning and Understanding in the Old Norse World exemplifies the diversity and vigour of current research in the field of Old Norse and draws together philological, literary, historical and anthropological perspectives on the subject. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Ilaidj
"Learning and Understanding in the Old Norse World" is a collection of well-writen and in-depth essays by leading experts on old norse literature, among which are Lars Lönnroth, Guðrún Nordal, Gísli Sigurðsson, Edith Marold and John Lindow. Despite its valuable and thoughtful contents this book is not intended for general audience, as it requires considerable knowledge of previous research on old norse literature and stucturalist and post-structuralist methods let alone acquaintance with old norse literature itself. Otherwise the book is hard to comprehend.

The only exception to essays focused on literature is Stefan Brink's piece on sacral toponymy entitled "How Uniform Was the Old Norse Religion?" which summarizes current research on Scandinavian place names. It is quite a valuable contribution to the volume since most of Scandinavian place-names research is available in Scandinavian languages only.

The volume gives a good outlook on changes occurred in the last 20 years in the field of old norse literature studies, especially regarding its theoretical framework. Essays presented qualify as worthy the honorand's own high-quality research, as Margaret Clunies Ross remains one of the most influential scholars of our times. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Women in Old Norse Society
This is a very interesting book. She uses Christian books to understand women's role in Pagan Iceland. It seems to me she goes out of her way to find female suffering. If the Christians say something negative about the Pagans. She sees that as a fact, but if a Christian shows women with power in Pagan Iceland, then she thinks this is just a Christian romance of their Pagan forebearers.
This is a good book, but with flaws.

scholarly yet highly readable
This is Jochen's companion volume to "Old Norse Images of Women," which focuses on images of women in Norse literature. These literary images *may* be more Christian patriarchal fantasy than real."Women in Old Norse Society" looks at the reality of women in theViking Age, using the Icelandic Sagas and the recorded Laws as the mainsources of information. Jochens argues that the sagas are both historicaland literary sources.

Paganism lasted much longer in Scandinavia than therest of Europe, which meant women there enjoyed a more equal relationshipwith men for a considerably longer time. Jochens explores thePagan-Christian conflict very fairly, looking at both the advantages anddisadvantages the shift to Christianity brought for women. For example, inpagan times women had little say in whom they married, and Christianitybrought the advantage of female consent. Jochens looks in great detail atimportant female issues such as marriage, reproduction, leisure and work.Especially fascinating is the "economics of homespun," or howwomen's economic contribution of woven cloth eventually became the mainmedium of exchange.

One of my favourite aspects of Jochen's writing isher frequent use of Old Norse words, clearly explained, adding afascinating linquistic layer. She references her work meticulously, makingit a very scholarly read, yet it is highly readable for anyone interestedin women's history.

Amazing amount of information
It is amazing how much information she managed to pack into this book, without overwhelming the reader AND with keeping it interesting.She included Old Norse (Icelandic?) language in the text without taking away from the content or causing confusion.(I don't speak either.) It actuallyadded to the book. She covered all facets of Norse society and also notedthe differences between how the Icelandic and Norse cultures developed overthe years.It is definately a book that I recommend for anyone interestedin historic Norse society, especially the female culture. ... Read more

Product Description
A retelling of the Norse creation myths and tales of the gods written in a narrative style. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great tales
Sir Roger Lancelyn Green tells the Norse myths in a very beautiful way: the power and the magic of the original verses can be felt when reading his book. In my opinion an excellent work and a joy to read.

Fun to read
This is a fun book to read, and is perfect for introducing anyone to Norse mythology. It has all the basics, where you learn about the more important gods and their stories.
There isn't much violence in the book, because this is to tell the stories, not the epic battle sequences, but that doesn't mean only younger audiences can enjoy it. Norse mythology is very interesting, and Green hasn't lost that in his book.

A Good Intro to Norse Mythology
Green is a great teller of tales, and here he definitely succeeds in bringing the ancient Norse Myths to life with vivid prose that is very faithful to his sources. This is one of those reads that is good for children (from about 4th Grade) and adults alike. The author's tone is not patronizing, but treats the reader and the subject matter seriously, and yet lightly and humorously when appropriate.
Green's novel--and it does read like a novel in its own right--is really good at introducing the reader to the world of Norse Myth, starting with the character of the Norse Men and going on to give an overview of the mythology, an introduction to all the gods, their foes, and their worlds, and straight retellings of all the famous tales... all in a narrative context.
I now prefer to read the "originals," but no doubt they would have been far too cryptic for me to read if I didn't have Green to hold my hand at first. I refer to the collection known as the Elder or Poetic Edda (0292764995), as well as the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson (0520012321). For me, those two collections plus the Volsungasaga (0140447385) round out the "genuine" Norse mythology.
But as I said, I would definitely begin with Green. I have read other modern retellings, but if you can find this one, it is the best.

Good collection of stories.
This book had been sitting unread in my library for many years.Recently, I decided to pick it up after getting more interested in the Norse myths after reading the Icelandic Sagas and listening to Wagner's 'Der Ring Des Nibelungen,' which was inspired by Norse mythology.This book supplies a collection of Norse myths, beginning with how the world was created, and ending with 'Ragnarok,' the popular myth about the last battle between the Gods and the Giants.I found myself enthralled throughout the book - that is until I reached the chapter regarding Sigurd.I have had some previous knowledge of this myth, but sought to learn more about it to learn more about Wagner's sources and inspirations when composing his mythological-based 'Ring' operas.Instead, I had found that the author used Wagner's Ring as a source for his chapter on Sigurd rather than the original sagas and myths.This made me question the authenticity of the other stories presented in the book.However, I think they all convey the general idea of what the Nordic people believed in, and think it a good synthesized collection of Norse mythology for those beginning to delve into the subject.It's also an ideal mythic book for younger audiences, as it has no explicit violence and has a simplistic and blunt writing style. ... Read more

Product Description
A History of Old Norse Poetry and Poetics is the first book in English to deal with the twin subjects of Old Norse poetry and the various vernacular treatises on native poetry that were such a conspicuous feature of medieval intellectual life in Iceland and the Orkneys from the mid-twelfth to the fourteenth centuries. Its aim is to give a clear description of the rich poetic tradition of early Scandinavia, particularly in Iceland, where it reached its zenith, and to demonstrate the social contexts that favoured poetic composition, from the oral societies of the early Viking Age in Norway and its colonies to the devout compositions of literate Christian clerics in fourteenth-century Iceland. The two dominant poetic modes, eddic and skaldic, are analysed, and their various styles and subjects are illustrated with newly chosen examples. The book sets out the prose contexts in which most Old Norse poetry has been preserved and discusses problems of interpretation that arise because of the poetry's mode of transmission. Throughout the book, the author links indigenous theory with practice, beginning with the pre-Christian ideology of poets as favoured by the god ó inn and concluding with the Christian notion that a plain style best conveys the poet's message. ... Read more

Product Description
This book offers the first account of Old Norse syntax for almost a hundred years and the first ever in a non-Scandinavian language. The language of the Vikings and of the Old Icelandic sagas is the best documented medieval Germanic language and the author is able to present a comprehensive analysis of its syntax and overviews of itsphonology and morphology. He supports his analyses with examples taken from Norwegian and Icelandic manuscript editions. Professor Faarlund's approach is descriptive, in a generative framework with a minimum of technical detail. He includes a complete bibliography of Old Norse syntax.

The book is intended for advanced students and scholars of historical linguistics, Germanic and Scandinavian languages, Norse philology, and all others with a serious interest in Nordic languages, civilizations, and history.

... Read more

Product Description
Retells with drama and humor the Norse myth about the God of Thunder and how he recovers his magic hammer, Mjolnir, from the Frost Giant, Thrym. "This book is a gem, guaranteed to spark interest in mythology. Use as a read-aloud and as a resource for mythology units and recommend it for pleasure reading." --Booklist ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

nice book
I bought this book for my 3 year old son who loves Thor. This book is very beautifully illustrated and the story itself is quite amusing. Thor (the Norse god of thunder)had his magic hammer stolen by a giant. In order to get it back the trickster god Loki comes up with a plan for Thor to pretend he is the beautiful goddess Frejya in order to trick the giant(and get his hammer back). This is a good story for both boys and girls and is not scary to read to young children. I explained to my son not to be afraid of real thunder as it is only Thor up in the sky protecting everyone (and this story really helped to drive that point home). He is no longer afraid of thunder during a storm. ... Read more