Reviewed by:

• The Nibelungenlied: with the Klage ed. by William Whobrey
• Andrea Bubenik

What do The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones have in common? Both echo the Nibelungenlied, a thirteenth-century heroic epic written in Middle High German. Falling in and out of obscurity until the eighteenth century, the poem partially inspired Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (Ring Cycle), fully propelled Fritz Lang’s two-part silent film of 1924 Die Nibelungen, and was later misused by the Nazis for propaganda. This is a poem that has suffered the weight of parody and fascist appropriations—it can be difficult to read it on its own terms.

To peer through these layers of reception is to find a poem of emotional range, one that is far less reliant upon magical elements or grandiose settings than other contemporaneous works. There is secular appeal in the character studies, with brute strength and warring factions matched by clever dialogue and deliberations. Love oscillates with deception; romance is superseded by revenge [End Page 270] and bloody slaughter. This is the story of the downfall of a mighty clan, a powerful exploration of extremes.

Why this new translation, given several extant English versions? William Whobrey set himself three goals to distinguish his translation from the rest. First, to provide a contemporary prose rendition of the medieval verse, without the use of anachronistic language. Second, to include and be informed by scholarship on the transmission of the poem in multiple manuscripts, and the related difficulties of translating. Third, to present the Nibelungenlied as a three-part epic by including (for the first time in English) the Klage (Lament), an epilogue that is contemporaneous with the poem but not always published with it.

The excellent introduction details the original thirteenth-century manuscripts, and the historical events and figures that were likely sources: the fifth-century Burgundians, Norse sagas, Theodoricus of Ravenna, Attila and the Huns. The tenuous connection to history is shown to be a moot point, because the Nibelungenlied exceeds any single origin. It remains of interest because it is a palimpsest, with historical figures and heroic archetypes, facts, and literary invention, all coalesced through oral transmission and layered into a complex poem.

At its core is the romance of Siegfried and Kriemhild, whose union leads to the wholescale destruction of the Burgundians. The pair have their foils in Kriemhild’s brother King Gunther, his queen, Brunhild, and the mighty soldier Hagen. With the arrival of the hero Siegfried at court rivalries and jealousies warp decorum, and power struggles emerge from all angles. Sparks fly when Kriemhild and Brunhild argue, hapless Gunther cannot keep his court in order, there is the sinister plotting of Hagen, and spoiler alert: everyone will die.

Magical elements are the exceptions rather than the norm. Siegfried’s enviable strengths include his cloak of invisibility and aura of invincibility. After killing a dragon and bathing in its blood, Siegfried’s skin becomes impenetrable, like armour, excepting one spot between his shoulders where a leaf fell. This weakness is later exploited by Hagen, who murders him with a simple stab in the back. The dragon is one of only two supernatural characters in the poem, the other a group of mermaids who advise Hagen and foretell his own demise.

There are tender and memorable registers of emotion. Siegfried blushes when he first meets Kriemhild. The smallest gestures matter: ‘Did he press her fair hand gently as a sign of love? I couldn’t say. But I don’t think it didn’t happen either’ (p. 26). The women are as powerful and resilient as the men. Kriemhild spends thirteen years grieving for Siegfried before she avenges his murder. Widowed, she marries King Etzel of the Huns. She then strategises to bring the Burgundians and Huns into an epic battle, all so that she can kill Hagen and avenge her husband’s death. Along the way, both clans are destroyed.

As is to be expected for a medieval epic, there is a strong investment in...

审阅者：

• 尼伯龙根之歌：与克拉格编辑。作者：威廉·沃布雷
• 安德里亚·布贝尼克

《指环王》和《权力的游戏》有什么共同点？两者都与《尼伯龙根之歌》相呼应，这是一部用中古高地德语写成的十三世纪英雄史诗。这首诗直到 18 世纪才逐渐默默无闻，部分启发了理查德·瓦格纳的《指环》，完全推动了弗里茨·朗 1924 年两部无声电影《尼伯龙根》的创作，后来被纳粹滥用于宣传。这首诗遭受了戏仿和法西斯挪用的重压——很难按照它本身的方式来阅读它。

透过这些层层的接受，我们会发现一首情感丰富的诗，与其他同时代的作品相比，它对魔法元素或宏伟背景的依赖要少得多。人物研究具有世俗的吸引力，残酷的力量和交战派系与巧妙的对话和深思熟虑相匹配。爱情因欺骗而摇摆；浪漫被复仇[完第270页]和血腥屠杀所取代。这是一个强大家族没落的故事，一次对极限的有力探索。

考虑到现有的几个英文版本，为什么要这个新译本呢？William Whobrey 为自己设定了三个目标，以使其翻译与其他翻译区分开来。首先，提供中世纪诗歌的当代散文演绎，而不使用不合时宜的语言。其次，通过学术研究了解这首诗在多个手稿中的传播以及相关的翻译困难。第三，将《尼伯龙根之歌》呈现为一部由三部分组成的史诗，其中包括（首次用英语）Klage （挽歌），这是与这首诗同时出现的尾声，但并不总是与它一起出版。

精彩的介绍详细介绍了十三世纪的原始手稿，以及可能来源的历史事件和人物：五世纪的勃艮第人、北欧传奇、拉文纳的狄奥多里库斯、阿提拉和匈奴人。与历史的脆弱联系被证明是一个有争议的问题，因为《尼伯龙根之歌》超越了任何单一的起源。它仍然引起人们的兴趣，因为它是一部重写本，其中有历史人物和英雄原型、事实和文学发明，所有这些都通过口头传播结合在一起，并分层成一首复杂的诗。

其核心是齐格弗里德和克里姆希尔德的浪漫史，他们的结合导致了勃艮第人的全面毁灭。这对搭档的陪衬是克里姆希尔德的兄弟冈瑟国王、他的王后布伦希尔德和强大的士兵哈根。随着英雄齐格弗里德的到来，宫廷中的竞争和嫉妒扭曲了礼仪，权力斗争从各个角度出现。克里姆希尔德和布伦希尔德争论时火花四溅，倒霉的冈瑟无法维持法庭秩序，还有哈根的险恶阴谋，还有剧透警告：每个人都会死。

魔法元素是例外而不是常态。齐格弗里德令人羡慕的优势包括他的隐形斗篷和无敌光环。杀死一条龙并沐浴在龙血中后，齐格弗里德的皮肤变得坚不可摧，就像盔甲一样，除了肩膀之间有一片叶子掉落的地方。这个弱点后来被哈根利用，从背后刺伤了他。龙是这首诗中仅有的两个超自然角色之一，另一个是一群为哈根提供建议并预言他自己死亡的美人鱼。

有温柔而难忘的情感记录。齐格弗里德第一次见到克里姆希尔德时脸红了。最小的动作也很重要：“他是否轻轻地按下了她白皙的手以示爱意？” 我不能说。但我认为这也没有发生”（第 26 页）。女性与男性一样强大且坚韧。克里姆希尔德为齐格弗里德哀悼了十三年，然后才为他报仇。丧偶后，她嫁给了匈奴国王埃策尔。然后，她制定了战略，让勃艮第人和匈奴人展开一场史诗般的战斗，这样她就可以杀死哈根，为丈夫报仇。一路上，两个氏族都被毁灭了。

正如中世纪史诗所预期的那样，有大量投资......