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Norse Mythology
- Narrated by: Professor Crawford
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
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Norse Mythology
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Summary
Thor, Odin, Loki, Freyja, the Valkyries, Valhalla, Ragnarok — many of the places we encounter these and other names, places, and events from Norse mythology in daily life and pop culture are connected to the medieval sources in name only.
Join Jackson Crawford, a translator of Old Norse, for a rousing introduction to the original stories, characters, and themes of Norse mythology in these 24 lectures. Packed with gods, anti-gods, magical figures, human heroes, religious practices, and literary devices, this course lays bare the reasons for our enduring fascination with these undeniably dramatic tales. It also connects the dots to Icelandic sagas of human heroes and to the culture and worldview of the Viking peoples.
You’ll spend time in the company of an incredible pantheon of characters, including Thor, who wasn’t necessarily the god of thunder we think of him as, and Freyja, commander of the Valkyries (more a job with special perks than a species of creatures). You’ll also enjoy spirited retellings of stories where the first members of humankind are molded by the gods from two pieces of driftwood; Odin travels to Hel to dig up a dead witch and interrogate her about what his son’s premonitions of his own death means; and multiple generations of a marshy district in Iceland must deal with the ravages of an “again-walker” (akin to a zombie).
With his expertise, Dr. Crawford will deepen your acquaintance with these sources, and leave you with plenty to remember in the eerie tales and timeless wisdom of the Norse gods and heroes.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
What listeners say about Norse Mythology
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- Jarrod Miller
- 16-01-23
Best Lecture for Norse mythology
I have struggled for a long time to find a book, audible book or kindle, that has gone into such depth about the ancient mythology of the Norse gods.
This has definitely been the most instructive and informative book I have listened too in nearly eight years.
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- Benjamin Milton
- 09-08-23
Amazing, defo one for repeat listening
Great presentation style. Very insightful. Heard some good stories I hadn’t come across before. Would highly recommend to all!
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- Martin Marsh
- 07-08-22
One of the best teachers of Old Norse
Jackson Crawford is a gift to all who would study Old Norse. We can only hope for a future Old Norse course and syllabus from him.
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1 person found this helpful
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- N J.
- 26-01-24
Fantastic delve into Norse Mythology
I have an interest in this area so thought it would be good to listen to - it was fantastic; such a rich, detailed exploration of the myths. This series both reinforced existing knowledge and taught me a whole lot more. Excellent!
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- Chros
- 13-04-22
Valuable resource
Prior to this I'd never studied Norse mythology, though it's been around me for decades through metal bands such as Thyrfing, Bathory, Moonsorrow, Ensiferum and the more recent Brothers of Metal. I also read and enjoyed Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology. With that in mind, I found this series of lectures incredible.
Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology serves primarily to entertain by sharing some of the greatest Norse myths in an easily accessible and often humorous way. In contrast, this series of well-structured lectures intends to give a much more solid foundation into Norse myth, sharing not only an overview of the myths themselves but insight into the whys and hows. For example, a lecture may first outline the main components of a saga (including its real world source), make the listener aware of any other versions of the saga, discuss the significance of each and theorise how the myths may have evolved over time. This scholarly approach often includes elements of linguistics and archaeology in addition to countless welcome tidbits. With this in mind, perhaps less than 50% total coverage is dedicated to the actual telling of Norse myth. I'd bear this in mind when considering starting out on this journey.
Jackson Crawford is an excellent lecturer even by Great Courses standards; he possesses a charming and unique accent (to a British listener) and his raw passion really comes through to assist in bringing the myths to life.
If internalising the information is a goal, I'd recommend doing no more than 1 lecture per sitting as with other Great Courses, taking notes and revisiting these notes before moving on to the next lecture. This is after all a lecture series and isn't designed to be devoured as a novel. It's worth noting that the accompanying PDF can also be fairly useful for consolidating information though I wouldn't recommend looking at this as you're listening.
The final lecture on 'The Enduring Appeal of Norse Mythology' gave me chills. It didn't fill me with a kind of sadness that often comes with finishing a great title but rather filled me with a drive to read translations of the Eddas and a wanderlust to visit the countries of Scandinavia. In this respect, the lecture series has achieved more than it intended.
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- Fraser Haywood
- 23-07-22
What it says on the tin
I've been a fan of Jackson Crawfords work on YouTube and already own physical copies of his translations of old Norse works, though this course condenses all of his teaching points available elsewhere on the Internet into an engaging sum of educational materials.
One minor gripe is that no one seemed to brief the guy introducing each lesson about the pronunciation of some of the old Norse words used by Dr Crawford...
It was a bit jarring in places.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Andrew Rabbitt
- 13-07-22
Fantastic stories, well explained
Dr Crawford delivers as always. A brilliant lecture series explaining the mythology well in an entertaining way, with Crawford's trademark dry wit and expert knowledge. Thank you!
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- Leann Buckman
- 06-05-23
wow
learnt alot from listening to this, worth a listen if your interested in norse or viking history
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- MR A PATTERSON
- 12-12-21
Fantastic
This is easily the best audiobook I have came across so far on Audible for an overview of authentic Norse mythology. It really gets into the details (in an interesting and engaging way).
Jackson Crawford is well known as a reputable source on the subject matter, so for anyone who wants to learn more about Norse mythology, I highly recommend this. The same author also has Audible releases for some of the original source material.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 07-06-22
The perfect introduction to norse mythology
A wonderfully written intro to the stories about the norse gods and the world of the vikings.
And very well narrated by Professor Jackson Crawford
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1 person found this helpful