The Prose Edda (Brodeur Translation): Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Prose Edda (Brodeur Translation), credited to Snorri Sturleson, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Prose Edda (Brodeur Translation) by Snorri Sturleson. (Translated by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur.) Read in English by Expatriate Also known as the Younger Edda or Snorri's Edda, the Prose Edda is a three-part work composed or at least compiled by thirteenth-century Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson. Along with the Elder or Poetic Edda written by an unknown poet a half-century earlier, the Prose Edda is a major source of much older Norse mythology as it had evolved through the generations. The two Eddas have had a profound effect on European literature in both style and content, not least on J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth fantasies. The first part of the Prose Edda is the Gylfaginning (The Tricking of Gylfi), dealing with the creation of the world and the major elements of Norse mythology. The second part, Skáldskaparmál, presented as a dialogue between Ægir, the God of the Sea and Bragi, the God of Poetry, is a fascinating textbook on skaldic poetry, including the uses of alliteration and kennings. The third part, Háttatal, is a trilogy of heroic poetry demonstrating the techniques of Skáldskaparmál (it is not included in this translation because of the translator's conviction that its highly technical nature "forbids" its effective translation into English). Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur, translator of Beowulf as well as the Prose Edda, was an intriguing person in his own right, writing pulp fiction along with his masterful scholarly translations and advocating radical political notions during the dangerous McCarthy era. - Summary by Expatriate

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Prose Edda (Brodeur Translation)
• Author credits: Snorri Sturleson
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 17
• Listed recording duration: 6:20:59

Catalogue topics

• poetry
• medieval literature
• norse mythology

Track guide

1. 01 - Introduction — 26:45
2. 02 - Prologue — 12:34
3. 03 - Gylfaginning 01-10 — 17:50
4. 04 - Gylfaginning 11-20 — 20:00
5. 05 - Gylfaginning 21-34 — 19:12
6. 06 - Gylfaginning 35-44 — 22:27
7. 07 - Gylfaginning 45-48 — 23:20
8. 08 - Gylfaginning 49-54 — 26:51
9. 09 - Skáldskaparmál 01-02 — 22:36
10. 10 - Skáldskaparmál 03-17 — 24:29
11. 11 - Skáldskaparmál 18-22 — 16:26
12. 12 - Skáldskaparmál 23-35 — 21:35
13. 13 - Skáldskaparmál 36-41 — 24:00
14. 14 - Skáldskaparmál 42-46 — 24:31
15. 15 - Skáldskaparmál 47-52 — 28:45
16. 16 - Skáldskaparmál 53-60 — 20:56
17. 17 - Skáldskaparmál 61-74 — 28:41

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.