Been meaning to write this one for a while. Finished the book a few weeks ago while I was on my trip, but having no internet access, I just took some notes and planned to write it later. **Intro** I got interested in the Prose Edda after reading Neil Gaimond's book of Norse Mythology, in which he essentially rewrites the myths in an entertaining way. It was a fun read, but it's primary purpose is to sell a book, and had little need to be faithful to the source material. I wanted to go deeper, and I knew Gaimond drew on the poetic and the prose eddas as his sources. The Prose Edda contains a collection of myths written down by an Icelandic scholar (Snorri Sturluson) after the Nordic world had mostly become Christian. Because the myths concerning the old gods were passed down verbally, Snorri was concerned they would be lost to history. And he was correct. His telling references some poems we no longer have, and contains myths in his telling that we don't have from other sources. In learning about Norse mythology previously, other analyzers would refer to Snorri as 'unreliable,' and having read this book I understand why. The book opens with the story of Adam and Eve, and relates an overview of Christian mythology. It then explains that after the flood (of Noah), the people who repopulated the world lost the name of God (YHWH). The Aesir were actual people (kings from somewhere around Turkey or something like that), who essentially tricked a man from the north into believing their lies, which he brought back as the Norse religion. Weirder yet, while denying the existence of the Aesir (And he's always very clear about what he proclaims he believes -- this is real; this is not real), Snorri casually describes other elements I would consider part of a pagan worldview. The Aesir kings use sorcery to trick Gylfi, and Snorri also casually mentions Frost Giants in his recreation of the world. **Review** This translation had an excellent foreword written by an Icelandic scholar, Sigurdur Nordal. It was probably the most critical part of the book, because without the context I would have been lost. Nordal explained the historical context of Christian Iceland in which Snorri wrote his Prose Edda (1100-1400 IIRC). Essentially, Christian practice was forced upon the icelandic people (and nobility) and you could get in quite a bit of trouble for saying the wrong thing. Nordal explains that the Prose Edda was written not as a collection of Norse mythology (because that would have been blasphemy), but as a book of instruction to young Icelandic poets who Snorri (probably legitimately) was concerned were losing the old ways of Icelandic poetry. So Nordal theorizes Snorri's purpose was dual -- preserve the poetic forms and preserve the myths. But in order to preserve the myths, Snorri has to carefully couch them in a Christian framework and present the poetic instruction element as the books primary reason to exist. The translation is not actually a translation of the complete work. It actually omits just about everything related to icelandic poetry and focuses only on the myths. I'm fine with this choice as the omitted material would have made little sense to me because I don't know Icelandic. The best critique I have of this translation is that I would have liked a version that had many, many more annotations. There were just so many things that didn't make sense to me that a little cultural context probably could have helped. Snorri's Aesir kings reference *Sibyl's Vision* and the *Lay of Grimnir* for example, but no explanation is given as to what these works are or their significance. What even is a sibyl? A gather some kind of seer, but what kind? Human, God, Norn? These are the kinds of things I would've liked to know. I wasn't a fan particularly of Young's translation choices when it came to names. She would leave many proper names in the icelandic, with a footnote translating the literal meaning if it had one. But for commonly used proper names, she would just translate into English. It felt kind of silly reading about the Gods travelling to *Giant Land* when even Gaimond (whose pop book you can find in airport reading stands) trusted us to remember what *Jogunheim* is. Generally, I think Snorri's Prose Edda is a great read for those who want to better understand Norse mythology. I would highly recommend it if you're interested in this stuff. The intro by Nordal makes this translation worth checking out of the library. If you were going to buy a book, I'd say shoot for a translation by another scholar. Go for a very thick one with a lot of annotations. And of course, come to /s/heathens and let us know what you think.