Jason Furman's Reviews > The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology

The Prose Edda is, in comparison to the Elder or Poetic Edda, literally prosaic. The framing by the compiler, Snorri Sturluson, that attempts to put Norse mythology in the context of Christian belief and Ancient Greece is borderline bizarre/clunky. The epic itself tells most of the same story as the Elder Edda, often literally with text interspersed with verses from those poems, going from creation through Ragnarok—followed by a set of stories, many of them about the consequences of greed for gold. The myths themselves are, of course, epic. And it is interesting to read one of the main original sources. But the language/framing does not feel like it adds any new elements (unlike the fascinating poetry of the Elder Edda) and, in fact, seems almost worse than more recent compilations which in some ways have more coherence and artistry than what was itself a compilation nearly a millennium ago.