Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was born in 1179 and died in 1241. Snorri is best known for writing the Prose Edda, an important work of Norse mythology, and Heimskringla, a chronicle of the Norwegian kings that begins with legendary material and moves through to early medieval Scandinavian history. His writings are considered some of the most influential in Scandinavian literature, and they provide valuable insights into the culture and beliefs of the Viking Age.
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. The Prose Edda
The book in question is a medieval Icelandic manual on poetics that also serves as a compendium of Norse mythology and heroic legends. Written by an influential historian, poet, and politician, it is intended as a guidebook for aspiring poets to understand the complex metaphors that permeate Old Norse poetic tradition. The work is divided into several sections, beginning with a prologue that provides a Christianized account of the origin of the Norse gods, followed by a narrative that explains the mythological cosmos, the pantheon of gods and their adventures, and the eschatological destiny of the world in Ragnarök. The latter part of the text focuses on the art of skaldic poetry, including its metrics, stylistic conventions, and the use of kennings, which are intricate metaphorical phrases that characterize much of Norse verse.
The 7152nd Greatest Book of All Time
