The Story of the Volsungs
The Volsunga Saga
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Narrated by:
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Antony Ferguson
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By:
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Anonymous
About this listen
Originally written in Icelandic in the 13th century AD by an anonymous author, The Story of The Volsungs is a legendary saga based on Norse mythology. The epic describes the legendary history and heroic feats of several generations of mythic Viking families and derives from many sources, including preexisting Edda, or heroic poems, Norse legends, historical events, and orally transmitted folklore. The saga is imbued throughout with themes of power, jealousy, love, vengeance, and fear. Often considered a critical influence on such later works as Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle and J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Story of the Volsungs is a powerful epic that continues to resonate for modern listeners. This edition---which includes excerpts from the Poetic Eddas, one of the sources of The Story of the Volsungs---is the translation by William Morris and Eirikr Magnusson.
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Scholarly yet fancifully told
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By: Philip Freeman
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Mythology
- By: Edith Hamilton
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Since its original publication by Little, Brown and Company, in 1942, Edith Hamilton's Mythology has sold millions of copies throughout the world and established itself as a perennial best-seller in its various available formats. Mythology succeeds like no other audiobook in bringing to life for the modern listener the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths and legends that are the keystone of Western culture - the stories of gods and heroes that have inspired human creativity from antiquity to the present.
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Good reading of classical myths
- By Kathi on 03-18-13
By: Edith Hamilton
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The Mabinogion
- By: Sioned Davies - Translator
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Celtic mythology, Arthurian romance, and an intriguing interpretation of British history - these are just some of the themes embraced by the anonymous authors of the eleven tales that make up the Welsh medieval masterpiece known as The Mabinogion. They tell of Gwydion the shape-shifter, who can create a woman out of flowers; of Math the magician whose feet must lie in the lap of a virgin; of hanging a pregnant mouse and hunting a magical boar.
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The names and read-along
- By Tad Davis on 10-10-18
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The War That Killed Achilles
- The True Story of Homer's Iliad and the Trojan War
- By: Caroline Alexander
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Few warriors, in life or literature, have challenged their commanding officer and the rationale of the war they fought as fiercely as did Homer's hero Achilles. Today, the Iliad is celebrated as one of the greatest works in literature, the epic of all epics; many have forgotten that the subject of this ancient poem was war - not merely the poetical romance of the war at Troy, but War, in all its enduring devastation.
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Everything is more beautiful because we are doomed
- By Darwin8u on 07-29-15
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Mythology: Mega Collection
- Classic Stories from the Greek, Celtic, Norse, Japanese, Hindu, Chinese, Mesopotamian and Egyptian Mythology
- By: Scott Lewis
- Narrated by: Madison Niederhauser, Oliver Hunt
- Length: 31 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Do you know how many wives Zeus had? Or how the famous Trojan War was caused by one beautiful lady? Or how Thor got his hammer? Give your imagination a real treat. This Mega Mythology Collection of eight audiobooks is for you....
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An interesting set of introductions.
- By Kevin Potter on 05-30-19
By: Scott Lewis
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Greek Mythology
- Fascinating Myths and Legends of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, and Monster from the Ancient Greek Mythology
- By: Simon Lopez
- Narrated by: Neil Hamilton
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Do you know that the Olympians weren’t the original immortals? Or that the Goddess Hera restored her virginity each year? The ancient Greeks wove one of the richest and best-preserved collections of stories of all the early civilizations, from the dawn of creation to the bloody siege at Troy.
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Fabulous! Highly recommended
- By Elizabeth Arndt on 01-31-20
By: Simon Lopez
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Asian Journals
- India and Japan (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell)
- By: Joseph Campbell
- Narrated by: Fred Stella
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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At the beginning of his career, Joseph Campbell developed a lasting fascination with the cultures of the Far East, and explorations of Buddhist and Hindu philosophy later became recurring motifs in his vast body of work. However, Campbell had to wait until middle age to visit the lands that inspired him so deeply. In 1954, he took a sabbatical from his teaching position and embarked on a year-long voyage through India, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and finally Japan.
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What a journey!
- By Anonymous User on 08-11-18
By: Joseph Campbell
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The Histories
- By: Herodotus
- Narrated by: Bernard Mayes
- Length: 27 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Herodotus is not only the father of the art and the science of historical writing, but also one of the Western tradition's most compelling storytellers. In tales such as that of Gyges, who murders Candaules, the king of Lydia, and usurps his throne and his marriage bed, thereby bringing on, generations later, war with the Persians, Herodotus laid bare the intricate human entanglements at the core of great historical events.
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Pater historiae: Latin, b/c who gets Greek jokes?
- By Darwin8u on 05-21-12
By: Herodotus
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The Histories
- The Persian Wars
- By: Herodotus, A. D. Godley Translator
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 27 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Herodotus was a Greek historian born in Halicarnassus, subject at the time of the great Persian Empire. He lived in the fifth century BC (c. 484 - c. 425 BC), a contemporary of Socrates. He is often referred to as "The Father of History", a title originally conferred by Cicero. Herodotus was the first historian known to have broken from Homeric tradition in order to treat historical subjects as a method of investigation, specifically by collecting his materials in a critical, systematic fashion and then arranging them into a chronological narrative.
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Popular for a reason
- By Reader on 11-17-18
By: Herodotus, and others
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The Iliad & The Odyssey
- By: Homer
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 28 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Little is known about the Ancient Greek oral poet Homer, the supposed 8th century BC author of the world-read Iliad and his later masterpiece, The Odyssey. These classic epics provided the basis for Greek education and culture throughout the classical age and formed the backbone of humane education through the birth of the Roman Empire and the spread of Christianity.
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Worth the price, worth the time
- By Sam on 12-31-04
By: Homer
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The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling
- By: Peter Ackroyd
- Narrated by: Keith Moore, Toby Leonard Moore, Colin McPhillamy, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Author Peter Ackroyd has won the Somerset Maugham Award, the Whitbread Novel of the Year, and the Guardian Fiction Prize, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Based on Geoffrey Chaucer’s immortal work, this retelling of The Canterbury Tales follows a party of travelers as they tell stories amongst themselves about love and chivalry, saints and legends, travel and adventure. Through allegory, satire, and humor, the tales help pass the time during their journey.
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WOW
- By Mitchell Drimmer on 02-25-15
By: Peter Ackroyd
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Four Arthurian Romances
- By: Chrétien de Troyes
- Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
The Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de Troyes form the wellspring of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Stories of knightly valour in the Welsh Marches had existed before the 12th century, but it was the magnificent poetry and imagination of Chrétien, the 12th century French poet and trouvère, which brought alive the great characters of Arthur, his wife Guinevere, Lancelot and others.
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Ukemi Audio: Doing the Lord’s Work
- By John on 09-29-17
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With this exciting and historically rich six-lecture course, experience for yourself the drama of this dynamic year in medieval history, centered on the landmark Norman Conquest. Taking you from the shores of Scandinavia and France to the battlefields of the English countryside, these lectures will plunge you into a world of fierce Viking warriors, powerful noble families, politically charged marriages, tense succession crises, epic military invasions, and much more.
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The Viking Age - from 750 to 1050 saw an unprecedented expansion of the Scandinavian peoples into the wider world. As traders and raiders, explorers and colonists, they ranged from eastern North America to the Asian steppe. But for centuries, the Vikings have been seen through the eyes of others, distorted to suit the tastes of medieval clerics and Elizabethan playwrights, Victorian imperialists, Nazis, and more. None of these appropriations capture the real Vikings, or the richness and sophistication of their culture.
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What listeners say about The Story of the Volsungs
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jefferson
- 03-28-12
Passionate, Poetic, Bloody, Heroic, & Tragic Saga
The Story of the Volsungs is a classic Icelandic saga, written in the 13th century from much older oral fragments of songs. Eirikr Magnusson and William Morris’ 1888 translation of the saga is fast-paced, coherent, heroic, tragic, and darkly beautiful. It is mostly prose, but includes many passages of poetry or songs. It influenced H. Rider Haggard’s The Saga of Eric Brighteyes, J. R. R. Tolkien’s oeuvre (especially the Silmarillion), and Poul Anderson’s The Broken Sword. If you like such tragic fantastic adventure fiction, if you are interested in Norsemen (Vikings!), or if you enjoy reading epics for their insights into human nature and their windows into different cultures, you should listen to this audiobook.
It begins with a useful 48-minute introduction by H. Halliday Sparling about the historical, religious, political, and cultural context of the Norsemen and of their sagas, which is followed by an 8-minute preface by Magnusson and Morris about their translation.
The saga depicts the interrelated fates of two great Norse families, the Volsungs and the Guikings. From the opening sequence, in which Sigi, grandfather of Volsung, kills a thrall who outperforms him in hunting and then hides his body in a snowdrift, the people in the saga are prey to overwhelming ambition, pride, envy, love, and hate. So there are plenty of battles, with kings killing kings and heroes dealing death till their arms are “red with blood, even to the shoulders,” and murders, brothers killing brothers, sons fathers, and mothers children, with poison, sword, or fire. The Norns have already decided the people’s dooms.
There are also fantastic elements aplenty: men change into wolves, nightmares reveal disastrous futures, magic potions make men forget, magical swords are re-forged, Odin interferes with advice, boon, or doom, and so on. There are many great scenes, like Sigurd talking with a dragon about its cursed treasure or finding the sleep-spelled shield-maiden, Brynhild, “clad in a byrny as closely set on her as though it had grown to her flesh.” The characters are compelling because they’re so heroic and flawed. Any character might be loathsome one moment and admirable the next, or vice versa.
The saga is not an easy listen, because many characters’ names sound similar and because of the archaic Malory-esque language used by Morris to evoke a timeless and heroic age (so the free online text might be helpful). But there is a dark, spare, grand, and beautiful poetry in his translation, and reader Antony Ferguson treats the text with restraint and fluency, subtly highlighting its terse turns and beautiful flights and rich alliteration, as in the following excerpt:
"So Regin makes a sword, and gives it into Sigurd’s hands. He took the sword, and said—'Behold thy smithying, Regin!' and therewith smote it into the anvil, and the sword brake; so he cast down the brand, and bade him forge a better."
I am very glad to have listened to this saga.
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- Phoenix
- 05-11-17
excellent story but a handful of mispronounciation
it was an excellent complete story, well worth the read. my only complaint is that the narrator doesn't pronounce several key words correctly. (such as jotun, etc) which are key parts to Norse mythology in general. I have been reading and listening to almost all of the Norse ancient scripts and this is the only source that has mispronounced key words
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1 person found this helpful
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- Laura
- 02-24-12
A Great Glimpse into Early Scandinavian Culture
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Story of the Volsungs?
This saga is mythic - a fairy tale - but brutal as the greatest fairy tales are. In one tale, as a mother prepares to murder her children, they advise her that such a plan, although horrendous, is a parent's right.
What about Antony Ferguson’s performance did you like?
His different voices for the male and female characters really made the drama come alive.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Brunhilda's having second thoughts about rejecting Sigurd. This woman of great wisdom lapsed into a jealous hag - timeless!
Any additional comments?
In the preface, the author states, to my surprise, that never before has this Icelandic saga been translated into English. All English-speaking readers should rejoice that the author has rectified this and so very eloquently.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Ingwe
- 03-12-13
Wonderful Journey
Any additional comments?
A wonderful hero's journey--Sigurd the dragonslayer is probably one of the best known heroes in Norse mythology. This saga does not disappoint in terms of its exploration not only of societal mores, but also of the classic heroic quest told episodically, each building on the other. Much has been made of the epic's influences on Wagner and Tolkien--yes, it's that good!
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9 people found this helpful
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- Paul Z.
- 12-27-11
Great Book
This is the 1888 translation by William Morris and Eirikr Magnusson. The first 48 minutes of the audio book are an essay, by H. Halliday Sparling, putting the work in its contextual and literary perspective, followed by an 8 minute translators’ preface. You could skip this part(the first two tracks) if you like, but I felt they were a great benefit, not a hindrance. After that you get a solid reading of The Volsunga Saga. Remember this is a 13th century work, not a 21st century story of high fiction. You get a lot of names and short stories, not a long flowing narrative. It is a great resource for lovers of the early literature and the cultures it deals with.
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14 people found this helpful
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- Kris Fricke
- 07-31-17
whys it translated into tedious English?
the original isn't in English right? so why is this one translated to extremely tedious English with lots of withals bye wherefore therefroms??
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3 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-06-13
Story of the Volsungs
The Saga of the Volsungs is one of my absolute favorite stories and although this is not my favorite translation, there is a definite poetry to it that's lovely to listen to. Anthony Ferguson does a marvelous job with the epic tone of the work.
I have only one somewhat negative comment. The translator's notes (though strangely, not all of them) are inserted into the reading wherever the footnotes occur, sometimes in the middle of a sentence, with no indication that, suddenly, we're hearing a note. While I have no doubt that these notes are useful for listeners who aren't familiar with either the vocabulary used in the story or with Nordic mythology, I found this method of including them very jarring.
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11 people found this helpful
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- Jay
- 07-15-17
Great Story, but hard read
The narrator was great, but the language wad not updated, so it was hard to follow and continue listening to. With updated language, this story would be fantastic.
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1 person found this helpful
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- A from VA
- 08-22-18
meant to be listened to
so good to finally hear (and as it was meant to be listened to I think the audible version was probably better than reading) what is so often referenced. This work offers tons of insight into the life and culture of the Migration Era and Viking Age.
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- Robert Sigurdsson
- 11-06-20
Decent, but..
I loved the stories, as I always do with Norse mythology.
However, Old Norse is a highly inflected language. And an understanding of such things needs to be taken into account before choosing a narrator.
"ð" this is pronounced with a soft "th" sound. like in the words "Weather", "Then", "They", et cetera.
"þ" this is pronounced with a hard "Th" sound. Such as in the name Þorr ( Thor ) The word "Thanks"
Those who would like help with such things, need to check out Dr. Jackson Crawford. Or Peter Kenny.
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