The Younger Edda, also known as Prose Edda and other things, is written by Snorri Sturluson during the early 13th century. I wanted to learn more about Norse mythology, and the section in Bullfinch's Mythology wasn't very exhaustive. I came across the Poetic and Prose Edda, and it sounded like the Prose would be easier for me to read and understand.
This particular version was originally published much later, around 1901. In the preface, it's recommended that the reader skip the foreword and afterword until they've read the "meat" of the book. I'd have to agree with that. The preface and foreword were strange and didn't seem to fit the style of the rest of the book.
The book includes an introduction that tells about Sturluson's life and the details of the manuscript.
The Edda itself was particularly interesting to me. The first section, The Fooling of Gylfe, is written in a sort of question/answer format. A king goes to the gods and asks various questions about their life and stories. In theory, this sounds boring, but it wasn't. The king asks a question, and the response was the gods telling their stories. Most of the time, I knew what would happen in the story, but it didn't matter. I was hooked.
The second part, Brage's Talk, starts out much the same way but is divided into traditional sections. Brage is a son of Odin and a storyteller. This section is Brage telling a man stories of their gods, or asas. Again, it was engaging, and I enjoyed it.
At the end is a section devoted to vocabulary. If you want a quick description for something in the mythology, this is the place to find it. I really enjoyed the edda itself, and the notes at the end. If you're interested in Norse mythology at all, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend The Younger, or Prose, Edda. I couldn't believe how easy it was to read. At times, it's harder to read books much younger than the Edda, but this was a real winner. Good Book!
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