IT'S TAKEN me quite a while to get through this tome, J.R.R. Tolkien's last book, The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun. Not only is it a massive book, it's also written as poetry rather than prose and sprinkled with notes from its editor, Tolkien's son, Christopher.
This is not The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings series. Legend is Tolkien's version of an ancient lay from the Norse stories that were, in fact, the basis of his other two, more famous, novels.
The introduction is, in fact, one of Tolkien's lectures on Norse literature discussing the 'Elder Edda', a series of poem that are the history and legends of the Norse people.
Actually, much of Legend is taken up with rather a lot of academic writing. Christopher Tolkien, who put this book together after his father's death, goes into much detail about the history of the original poems, the history of his father's interest in this area and very, very detailed analysis of just about each stanza of the poems. He even gives readers a chapter on 'The Verse-Form of The Poems'.
Which, unfortunately, doesn't make this an easy read. This book is not something you would buy for a kid, unless that child is relatively precocious and planning on studying ancient literature forms at university.
Even with an honours degree in literature – including subjects in Middle English poetry – I have to say I didn't really enjoy reading The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun.
Yes, the action is there. Yes, the romance and pathos of Sigurd's ancestry is there. Yes, the drama of honour and bitterness of battle is there... but it's so very hard to get to.
It says something about modern society that the majority of us are not comfortable anymore with verse-style prose. Poetry is a slowly dying interest with few poets found on the top of the best-seller lists these days.
One would think that with our shorter attention spans thanks to the speed of the internet and the development of things like Twitter – where everything has to fit into 140 characters – we would be more appreciative of a book written in bite-sized pieces.
Perhaps some readers are; however I found myself struggling to get through this book. I could not visualise the characters as easily as I can with traditional prose. And truly, the sheer number of footnotes and references kept putting me to sleep.
Still, the basic story is about Sigurd, the central character of the Volsunga saga, later adapted into Siegfried, the hero of Germany's Nibelungenlied and Wagner's operas Siegfried and Götterdämmerung.
His story is relatively complicated – he is born after his father dies, his dad accidentally attacked a god who was in disguise at the time. Sigurd's mother later marries a king, Alf, who gets rid of the unwanted bastard by sending Sigurd off to be fostered with another lord.
Sigurd has a number of adventures including getting involved with the Rhine maidens and stealing their gold, then killing Fafnir, a dwarf who turns himself into a dragon. After bathing in the dead dragon's blood, Sigurd becomes invincible except for one spot on his shoulder (shades of Achilles). After eating various bits of the dragon, Sigurd gains the ability to talk to birds and the gift of prophecy.
He then falls in love with a shield maiden, Brynhildr, but is tricked into forgetting her, and meets Gudrun and helps her brother to win the love of Brynhildr.
Yes, this is only a very basic outline and it's already complicated and giving me a headache just writing it. Eventually after some betrayals, births and accusations, Sigurd is killed, along with his son and most of the rest of the cast.
Tolkien's Legend follows the basic storyline in prose, adding pathos via his tempered lines, but unfortunately not really adding much clarity or ease of understanding.
As a lover of Tolkien's other works, I very much wanted to embrace The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun. However, this book really is only for the most dedicated of Tolkein fans or lovers of ancient poetry.
But it is beautifully presented, and for a reader with perhaps more time and passion for the period, would be an ideal introduction to the beauty of ancient sagas and verse; it just wasn't for me.
The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun is written by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien, and published by Harper Collins. It is available from good book stores and online.
Editor's Note: Spelling of Tolkien has been corrected as required.