- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Phoenix; New edition edition (25 Mar 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0460872656
- ISBN-13: 978-0460872652
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
765,430 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #51 in Books > Fiction > Poetry & Drama > Poetry > Genres > Norse & Icelandic Sagas
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Product Description
Product Description
SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT is one of the most important alliterative poems of Medieval literature.From the north-west midlands,it dates from the second half of the 14th century.Gawain,a knight in Arthur's court,takes up the challenge of the Green Knight,and cuts off his head.The Knight informs Gawain he will have his revenge.Journeying to the Knight's abode to receive his lot Gawain takes thehospitality of a Lord,and endures the advances of his wife.The Lord is the GreenKnight and,when the time comes,merely nicks Gawain's neck for his infidelity and dishonour.Is Gawain a failure,or a hero?
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is one of the best books I have ever read, though the blurb says he is a demon and killer, the writer makes you feel for him in a way you wouldn't imagine. His poetry is straight from the heart and I think it is some of the best to come from Iceland. You have to read this book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The translation of this saga is well written and the supporting commentary, both annotated and the translator's comments which preface the material are clear and do not get in the way of telling the story.
The treatment of the poems is exemplary. Christine Fell notes in the preface that she had originally planned some sort of literal translation of the poems, with notes to explain the kennings. In the end this material is included in the notes but what you read in the translation are modern English poems. These were composed by John Lucas and they do not try to transliterate - they give the message of the poem in verse forms which usually capture the forms of the original, occasionally changing style to allow an easier reading of the message.
The poetry is key to the translation. Egil and several other characters compose poems and these would have formed an important part of the narration of the story. Without his poetry, Egil would be an uninteresting thug (with a few saving greys) and certainly not a hero.
I read through this translation with my bookmark in the back so that I could check the literal translation of the poem after I had read the modern one. The translation there uses the solution to each kenning, then gives a literal translation of the kenning in brackets. I knew something about kennings from Old English poetry but the Scandinavian kennings are a completely different order of word twisting as they pile on top of one another so that you have to solve one part before you can understand the next. An example (given in the preface) is "string of the pin of the tormentor of the shield". "Tormenter of the shield" is a sword (makes sense!), so that changes to "string of the pin of the sword". The "pin of the sword" is an arm, so you are then given "string of the arm" which is a kenning for an arm ring.
The closest you get to this sort of complexity in modern language(that I know of) is in Cockney rhyming slang, where there are instances of rhyming words being coined for expressions which are themselves rhyming slang words, usually because they have become too well known.
There is one verse of one of the longer poems which in translation has "sword" four times but as kennings these are each different - "saddle of the whetstone", "glory of battle", "wound engraver" and "ice of the belt"
Wonderful stuff!
The treatment of the poems is exemplary. Christine Fell notes in the preface that she had originally planned some sort of literal translation of the poems, with notes to explain the kennings. In the end this material is included in the notes but what you read in the translation are modern English poems. These were composed by John Lucas and they do not try to transliterate - they give the message of the poem in verse forms which usually capture the forms of the original, occasionally changing style to allow an easier reading of the message.
The poetry is key to the translation. Egil and several other characters compose poems and these would have formed an important part of the narration of the story. Without his poetry, Egil would be an uninteresting thug (with a few saving greys) and certainly not a hero.
I read through this translation with my bookmark in the back so that I could check the literal translation of the poem after I had read the modern one. The translation there uses the solution to each kenning, then gives a literal translation of the kenning in brackets. I knew something about kennings from Old English poetry but the Scandinavian kennings are a completely different order of word twisting as they pile on top of one another so that you have to solve one part before you can understand the next. An example (given in the preface) is "string of the pin of the tormentor of the shield". "Tormenter of the shield" is a sword (makes sense!), so that changes to "string of the pin of the sword". The "pin of the sword" is an arm, so you are then given "string of the arm" which is a kenning for an arm ring.
The closest you get to this sort of complexity in modern language(that I know of) is in Cockney rhyming slang, where there are instances of rhyming words being coined for expressions which are themselves rhyming slang words, usually because they have become too well known.
There is one verse of one of the longer poems which in translation has "sword" four times but as kennings these are each different - "saddle of the whetstone", "glory of battle", "wound engraver" and "ice of the belt"
Wonderful stuff!
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Anyone wondering which saga to read first will find this the most accessible. Although it falls short of the grandeur of Njal's Saga, Egil's Saga has the most exciting narrative and, in the protagonist, one of the greatest characters of Icelandic literature. Buy the Everyman version rather than the Penguin though because it's much better on Egil's poetry. And look out for the wonderfully eerie passage at the start when the minor kingdoms of Norway are being united by force. One of the kings can't bear the prospect of defeat so he leads his men into a barrow to be buried alive. Good stuff!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Best translation
This is my favourite saga and the Everyman translation reads better than the Penguin equivalent. Still, the straightforward, unfussy manner of the writing, typical of Icelandic... Read more
Published 3 months ago by DavidB
Egils Saga
Vey good introduction to Saga`s .Introduction as in it was my first read on the subject. Was more disjointed than I expected but was strung together to give a good feeling for the... Read more
Published 11 months ago by 2BFrank
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