Rise of the Volsung Katherine Buel Northern Michigan University
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Northern Michigan University NMU Commons All NMU Master's Theses Student Works 2012 Rise of the Volsung Katherine Buel Northern Michigan University Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.nmu.edu/theses Recommended Citation Buel, Katherine, "Rise of the Volsung" (2012). All NMU Master's Theses. 358. https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/358 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at NMU Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in All NMU Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of NMU Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. RISE OF THE VOLSUNG By Katherine Buel THESIS Submitted to Northern Michigan University In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of MASTER OF FINE ARTS Graduate Studies Office 2012 SIGNATURE APPROVAL FORM This thesis by Katherine Buel is recommended for approval by the student’s Thesis Committee and Department Head in the Department of English and by the Dean of Graduate Studies. ________________________________________________________________________ Committee Chair: Austin Hummell Date ________________________________________________________________________ First Reader: Ray Ventre Date ________________________________________________________________________ Second Reader (if required): Jason Markle Date ________________________________________________________________________ Department Head: Ray Ventre Date _______________________________________________________________________ Assistant Provost of Graduate Education and Research: Dr. Brian D. Cherry Date OLSON LIBRARY NORTHERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY THESIS DATA FORM In order to catalog your thesis properly and enter a record in the OCLC international bibliographic data base, Olson Library must have the following requested information to distinguish you from others with the same or similar names and to provide appropriate subject access for other researchers. NAME: Buel Katherine Diane DATE OF BIRTH: 09/17/1982 ABSTRACT RISE OF THE VOLSUNG By Katherine Buel This novel works with the legend of the Viking hero Sigurd, adapting material from the Norse eddas and sagas. These sources preserve one of the most complex and fascinating stories in the Norse heroic tradition. In Beowulf , Sigurd is lauded as a hero of old, and Beowulf himself is compared to him. For a modern reader, however, the material in the eddas and sagas is distant, even lifeless. In an age of novel writing and reading, readers do not easily perceive the essential humanness of the figures in epic poetry. The goal of Rise of the Volsung is to draw out that humanness, to make Sigurd real again. In contrast to its source material, this novel examines Sigurd’s strengths and flaws. It questions the easy assumptions so prevalent in the original texts, assumptions about the infallibility of heroes, assumptions about the role of fate. This novel pivots around the characters, showing how events unfold through their actions and decisions. In adapting the legend of Sigurd, this novel participates in a branch of literature with both a long history and a contemporary foothold. Authors such as Margaret Atwood and Jane Smiley, whose adaptation of King Lear won the Pulitzer-prize, have helped to establish the validity of working with source material in today’s literary field. Surprisingly few authors, however, have explored the rich Norse legends. This novel attempts to bring this complex mythology to light once more. i Copyright by Katherine Buel 2012 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction.…………………………………………………………………………….....1 Chapter 1.………………………………………………………………………………...16 Chapter 2.………………………………………………………………………………...41 Chapter 3.………………………………………………………………………………...56 Chapter 4.………………………………………………………………………………...74 Chapter 5.………………………………………………………………………………...90 Chapter 6.……………………………………………………………………………….112 Chapter 7.……………………………………………………………………………….136 Chapter 8.…………………………………………………………………………….....155 Chapter 9.……………………………………………………………………………….177 Chapter 10.……………………………………………………………………………...190 Chapter 11.……………………………………………………………………………...209 Chapter 12.……………………………………………………………………………...220 Chapter 13.……………………………………………………………………………...241 Chapter 14.……………………………………………………………………………...254 Chapter 15.……………………………………………………………………………...266 Chapter 16.……………………………………………………………………………...279 Chapter 17.……………………………………………………………………………...290 Chapter 18.……………………………………………………………………………...312 Chapter 19.……………………………………………………………………………...326 Chapter 20.……………………………………………………………………………...352 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS, cont. Chapter 21.……………………………………………………………………………...368 Chapter 22.……………………………………………………………………………...390 Chapter 23.……………………………………………………………………………...411 Chapter 24.……………………………………………………………………………...433 Chapter 25.……………………………………………………………………………...452 Chapter 26.……………………………………………………………………………...468 Chapter 27.……………………………………………………………………………...491 Chapter 28.……………………………………………………………………………...503 Chapter 29.……………………………………………………………………………...518 Chapter 30.……………………………………………………………………………...535 Chapter 31.……………………………………………………………………………...547 Chapter 32.……………………………………………………………………………...559 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...573 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………….589 iv INTRODUCTION Set in the ancient and largely mythological Norse world, Rise of the Volsung will be the first of two books to tell the story of Sigurd by adapting material from the Norse eddas and sagas. These sources preserve one of the most complex and fascinating stories in the Norse heroic tradition. The importance of Sigurd in this tradition cannot be overemphasized. Even in Beowulf , Sigurd is lauded as a hero of old, and Beowulf himself is compared to him. Often unrecognized, the virtues and adventures of Sigurd have seeped into much western literature and culture. The saga echoes in such unlikely places as the tale of Sleeping Beauty, in which the enchanted sleep of Brynhild appears in a new context, and in the Arthurian legends, where the Volsung sword drawn from a mighty tree reappears as the sword in the stone. For a modern reader, however, the material contained in the Norse eddas and sagas is distant, even lifeless. In an age of novel writing and reading, readers do not easily perceive the essential humanness of the figures in epic poetry. The goal of my novel is to draw out that humanness, to make Sigurd real for a modern audience. The challenges of adapting a legend are significant, especially the need, in the words of Ezra Pound, to “make it new.” My novel asks questions about what is not explored in the original texts, such as Sigurd's motives and the consequences of his choices. In contrast to Beowulf, who rules his land for fifty winters and is lauded as a “fr ōd cyning” (wise king), Sigurd abandons his people to pursue his own interests. He never returns them, never shows any desire to return to his throne at all. Other characters 1 that emerge as heroes within the legend make similarly shocking decisions by murdering their friends, husbands, and even their own children, and they do not lose their status as heroes. They also go willingly and unnecessarily to their deaths, seemingly unconcerned about what might become of their kingdoms or families as a result. To adapt such a legend into a cohesive novel, I had to begin with the question I found most compelling and most central to the logic of the Sigurd story: what defines the Norse hero? * * * The legend presents several heroes: Sigurd, Gunnar and Hogni (Sigurd’s betrayers and key figures in his murder), and Hagen (Sigurd’s murderer in The Nibelungenlied ). Despite the wrongs done by each of these figures, each demonstrates similar heroic traits. Each one fights valiantly in the face of certain failure. It is this effort that seems to define the hero, and I will show, through examples from the legend, how effort is glorified. In a culture in which fatalism is so heavy and pervasive, only effort, a stubborn refusal to give up, can counterbalance doom, and the hero emerges as a figure able and willing to endure such hopeless struggle. Several medieval texts preserve the legend, most notably The Poetic Edda, The Volsunga Saga, and The Nibelungenlied . Snorri Sturluson (b. 1179) includes the story in The Prose Edda , but his version is quite truncated. Each of the three major texts contains different details, and so it is difficult to summarize the legend. The Poetic Edda and The Volsunga Saga are quite close, as The Volsunga Saga , thought to have been written in the thirteenth century in Iceland, bases its story primarily on the poems of The Poetic Edda , compiled by an Icelander in probably the twelfth or thirteenth century. While many scholars, including J. R. R. Tolkien, have held The Poetic Edda to be of finer quality than 2 The Volsunga Saga , the latter is invaluable in filling in the many gaps in the much fragmented poems of The Poetic Edda (Tolkien 38-9). The Nibelungenlied , composed in Austria in the early thirteenth century, contains many of the same thematic elements as The Prose Edda and The Volsunga Saga , but details of the plot diverge significantly. As The Poetic Edda and The Volsunga Saga tell it, Sigurd, a descendent of Odin, is fostered in his youth by the cunning and treacherous Regin. Regin wants Sigurd to kill a mighty dragon named Fafnir. Fafnir, who is Regin’s brother, is in possession of an immense, cursed hoard of treasure. After Sigurd performs this amazing feat, he learns that Regin intends to murder him for the treasure, and so he kills Regin preemptively. In his subsequent travels, Sigurd comes