Laughing Shall I Die

"A lively retelling of some great stories."--Judith Jesch "Times Literary Supplement" "As tough and uncompromising as the Viking heroes whose lives and deaths it recounts, Shippey's book also shares their dark sense of humor. . . . Shippey upsets entrenched positions, dissects legend from history, and reveals how the Vikings were able to dominate in the North for more than three centuries."--Carolyne Larrington, University of Oxford "author of The Norse Myths: A Guide to the Gods and Heroes" "Fascinating . . . Spirited, engaging, and frequently very funny, this book is as memorable and enjoyable as the medieval stories it explores--an unmissable read for anyone interested in the Vikings."--Jennifer Bort Yacovissi "BBC History Magazine" "Here are two take-aways from Shippey's latest book: One, 'Viking' was a job description, not a racial or ethnic designation; and two, a quality demanded of those Vikings was a finely honed, mordant sense of humor that perhaps we modern nine-to-five cubicle-dwellers would find difficult to understand. That sense of humor includes composing, on the spot, even as the composer is being bitten to death by a pit-full of adders, a beautiful song that will be handed down through the ages. The song concludes with the line, 'Laughing shall I die, ' primarily because the dying Viking knows his sons are coming to wreak vengeance on the king who put him in the pit and will subject said king to a longer, slower, far grislier demise. It's pretty funny, apparently, if you're a Viking."--Jennifer Bort Yacovissi "Washington Independent Review of Books" "Magnificent. . . . Lively, friendly and occasionally barbed. . . . Shippey's magnum opus provides not only an exhilarating, mind-expanding appraisal and retelling of Viking history but also an invitation to discover the cold-iron poetry and prose of the medieval North. Take up that invitation."--Michael Dirda "Washington Post" "Shippey sails gallantly between the skerries of faculty-room 'comfort zones, ' defiantly portraying the Vikings 'in their own terms.' . . . He shows us that both literary and archaeological evidence can help to bring us closer to the Old Norse mindset, providing fascinating proof of the Vikings' own intellectual examination of their place in the world."--Karin Altenberg "Wall Street Journal" "Shippey's account of the mindset and motives of Vikings offers a judicious challenge to scholarly orthodoxies, while reaching out to a much broader readership. The horned helmets may have been banished, but the tough-minded and rapacious marauder now reappears in ways that deserve serious attention. . . . A tour de force. Its author has done Viking studies a memorable service."--Andrew Wawn, University of Leeds "author of "Viking Age Iceland" and "Viking Language: Learn Old Norse"" "This new book will become a classic. For me it was a must-read, and a very pleasant one at that. Shippey takes the reader deep into the world and thought of the Vikings. Along with exploring their violence, travels, and technology, he asks: 'what gave them their edge?, ' and 'how did they get away with it for so long?' His answers often focus on the strange (if I may say) amusements of Old Norse heroes. . . . A fine read written by someone who understands Old Norse sagas, myths, and legends."--Jesse Byock, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA "author of "Viking Age Iceland" and "Viking Language: Learn Old Norse"" "With his usual erudition and insight, Shippey has shed some light on an always interesting question: how different from us can a strange people (the Vikings) be and still be considered human? Put another way: what does the difference between how those people see themselves and how we see them say about our capacity for sympathy and understanding? In Shippey's

Tom Shippey is Professor Emeritus of Saint Louis University, Missouri. His books include J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century (2001), The Road to Middle Earth (4th revd edn, 2004), and Hard Reading: Learning from Science Fiction (2016).

Maps Preface Introduction Part I: Dying Hard 1 The Viking Mindset: Three Case Studies 2 Hygelac and Hrolf: False Dawn for the Vikings 3 Volsungs and Nibelungs: Avenging Female Furies 4 Ragnar and the Ragnarssons: Snakebite and Success 5 Egil the Ugly and King Blood-axe: Poetry and the Psychopath Part II: Moving to the Bigger Picture 6 Weaving the Web of War: The Road to Clontarf 7 Two Big Winners: The Road to Normandy 8 Furs and Slaves, Wealth and Death: The Road to Miklagard Part III: The Tale in the North 9 The Jarls and the Jomsvikings: A Study in Drengskapr 10 A Tale of Two Olafs; or, The Tales People Tell 11 A Tale of Two Haralds: Viking Endgame 12 Viking Aftermath: The Nine Grins of Skarphedin Njalsson Appendix A: On Poetry: Types, Texts, Translations Appendix B: On Sagas: Types, Texts, Translations Appendix C: Snorri Sturluson References Bibliography Acknowledgements Index