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Laughing Shall I Die

By Tom Shippey

Product Image: Laughing Shall I Die

Laughing Shall I Die

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Description
"Viking literature is dominated by famous last stands, famous last words, death songs and defiant gestures, all laced with grim humour. Much of this mindset is alien to modern sentiment, and academics have accordingly shunned it. And yet, it is the same worldvew that has always powered the popular public image of the Vikings - with their berserkers, valkeyries and cults of Valhalla and Ragnarok - and has also been corroborated by archaeological discoveries. Was it this mindset that powered the sudden eruption of the Vikings onto the European scene? Was it a belief in heroic death that made them so lastingly successful against so many bellicose opponents? Weighing the evidence of sagas and poetry against the accounts of the Vikings' victims, Tom Shippey considers these questions as he plumbs the complexities of Viking psychology and recounts many of the great bravura scenes of Old Norse literature, including the Fall of the House of Skjoldunds, the clash between two great longships Ironbeard and Long Serpent, and the death of Thormod the skald."--
Product details
Binding:
Paperback
Number of Pages:
368
Release Date:
2020-11-07
Publication Date:
2020-09-14
Publisher:
Reaktion Books
Languages:
Original: English
ISBN10:
1789142172
ISBN13:
9781789142174
GPSR Manufacturer Reference:
[email protected]
Weight:
550 g
Height:
152 cm
Width:
226 cm
Thickness:
29 cm
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