pumpkinstrokemarrow

Yesterday finished my first pass of 'The Nibelungenlied', a book obtained from the helpful 'City Books' in Western Road, Hove (http://www.city-books.co.uk/) , as I was unable to spell the thing right to Mr Amazon who denied access. This version was an old translation by one Hatto to which I had been pointed by a review of a new translation in the TLS. The reviewer appeared to prefer the old translation, but what caught my eye was the observation that it was a pity that Freud did not pay as much attention to old German stories as he did to old Greek stories. If he had, he might have reduced the emphasis he put on intra familial sex. This old German story being all about how an immigrant attained fame and fortune in his new land, only to be murdered by the disgruntled aborigines. Nothing much to do with sex at all.

On closer inspection I don't think this is fair. Siegfried is certainly murdered by disgruntled aborigines. But it is also true that he marries the beautiful sister of the three kings of Worms (on the Rhine) and that the murderer is a liegeman of one of the kings. Furthermore, Siegfried facilitates the consummation of the marriage of one of the kings by some shennanighans in the bridal chamber, which include Siegfried making off with a ring and a girdle of the bride's, which at the time of writing was tantamount to saying that he had had his way with her. All this subsequently leads to a quarrel between the bride and his (Siegfried's) wife, a quarrel which results in his dastardly murder by the liegeman. Although not before Siegfried has thoroughly thrashed his wife for stirring up trouble; a thrashing she is not ashamed to mention in conversation as something entirely normal. Husbands needed to keep their wives in line. So I think the story clearly includes some traditional Freudian subject matter.

But there is more to it than that. A lot more space is devoted to other matters, clearly important at the time. There is a lot of present giving, with both the giving and receiving (or not receiving, not accepting) being bound up with very serious issues of status. There is a lot of conspicuous consumption, some of it in the form of present giving and some of it in the forms of fancy clothes and fancy arms & armour. There is a lot of showing off by young men and women. Including the various martial arts in the case of the men. There is a lot of insecurity. It might be good and honourable to be a great warrior and it might be good and honourable to entertain other great warriors. But could you be sure that they were not going to turn on you? Which may have to do with there being a lot of interest in whether or not someone is going to stick to his word, to honour his bond or honour his allegiance. The resolution of conflicting allegiances.

All in all, thoroughly recommended. I shall now read the plenteous notes before embarking on a second reading. Maybe after that, try and find some accessible non-fiction history of the times described.

I wonder what relation this version bears to Wagner's?