Das Nibelungenlied
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Song of the Nibelungs
First Edition
Translated from the Middle High German by Burton Raffel; Foreword by Michael Dirda; Introduction by Edward R. Haymes
Out of Print
Burton Raffel is Distinguished Professor of Arts and Humanities Emeritus and professor of English emeritus, University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He lives in Lafayette. His many works of translation include the narrative poems of Chrétien de Troyes and Poems and Prose from the Old English, all published by Yale University Press.
"Raffel stays true to the style and form of the Nibelungenlied, a wonderful text that deserves a much wider audience in the English-speaking world."—Bettina Bildhauer, University of St. Andrews
"Burton Raffel's Nibelungenlied deserves many enthralled readers."—Michael Dirda, from the Foreword
"A marvelously readable version of Das Nibelungenlied."—Ronnie Apter, Central Michigan University
"Written around the year 1200, The Nibelungenlied is one of the glories of European literature. The epic is based on tales . . . that reach back . . . to the fifth-century destruction of the Burgundian kingdom by the Huns. Yet it speaks as powerfully to modern readers as it must have done to its first audience eight centuries ago. . . . The great narrative poem has been hailed as Germany’s Iliad. . . . The challenges for a translator are great. . . . Mr Raffel has solved the problems well. . . . He varies rhyme and rhythm when he feels the need, often with great subtlety but without betraying the senses or the spirit of the Middle High German text. . . . Raffel catches the natural urgency and excitement of the original poem."—Ian Brunskill, Wall Street Journal
Publication Date: November 1, 2006