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Bloodhoof

Gerður Kristný author Rory McTurk translator

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Arc Publications

Published:20th Jun '12

Should be back in stock very soon

Bloodhoof cover

Bloodhoof is a compulsively modern recasting of the ancient Eddic poem Skírnimál – a minimalist epic telling of the abduction of Gerður Gymisdóttir from a land of giants and her eventual return from the court of Freyr with her beloved son. The journey is full of iron-hard rocks, ice and serpents, and fields of corn whispering in the breeze.

Bloodhoof is a story of "ghosts and long-dead heroes" – a game of thrones that will linger in the memory. Parallel-text verse in Icelandic and English.

Gerður Kristný was born in Reykyavik in 1970. She has produced 18 books of fiction and non-fiction, as well as children's books and poetry. Her work recently featured in the anthology Best European Fiction 2012, and in the October 2011 issue of Words Without Borders. She has also been a Featured Poet in Eyewear magazine. Her numerous prizes include the Icelandic Literature Prize in 2010 for Bloodhoof.

Rory McTurk is Emeritus Professor of Icelandic Studies at the University of Leeds, and the editor of the Blackwell's Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture (2007).

This book is also available as an ebook: buy it from Amazon here.

The conveying of a poet into another language can be talked through in various ways. Stefan Tobler's preface caught hold of me by its enthusiasm, pleasure in the work, and that he cares. In contrast, David Treece's introduction had me bored by the first page. It's the difference - or is here - between the worker on the text and the standing apart academic. The translator's practical invitation and his conveying the pleasure of the task is, so far as I can tell, brought to fruition in his translations. Keith Richmond, The Tribune 2013
The conveying of a poet into another language can be talked through in various ways. Stefan Tobler's preface caught hold of me by its enthusiasm, pleasure in the work, and that he cares. In contrast, David Treece's introduction had me bored by the first page. It's the difference - or is here - between the worker on the text and the standing apart academic. The translator's practical invitation and his conveying the pleasure of the task is, so far as I can tell, brought to fruition in his translations. Keith Richmond The Tribune 2013

ISBN: 9781908376107

Dimensions: 215mm x 138mm x 8mm

Weight: 200g

128 pages