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Laughing Shall I Die: Lives and Deaths of the Great Vikings (U) - SKU 162074

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SKU:
162074
UPC:
9781789142174
MPN:
1789142172
Condition:
Used
Weight:
19.20 Ounces
Shipping:
Calculated at Checkout

Specifications

Author Last Name, Author First Name, Pages, Binding, Edition, ISBN 10, ISBN 13, Condition, Publisher, Date Published,

Specifications

Author Last Name:
Shippey
Author First Name:
Tom
Pages:
368
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Edition:
Reprint
ISBN 10:
1789142172
ISBN 13:
9781789142174
Condition:
Used
Publisher:
Reaktion Books
Date Published:
11/22/2021
Genre:
History

Description

Laughing Shall I Die explores the Viking fascination with scenes of heroic death. The literature of the Vikings is dominated by famous last stands, famous last words, death songs, and defiant gestures, all presented with grim humor. Much of this mindset is markedly alien to modern sentiment, and academics have accordingly shunned it. And yet, it is this same worldview that has always powered the popular public image of the Vikings—with their berserkers, valkyries, and cults of Valhalla and Ragnarok—and has also been surprisingly corroborated by archaeological discoveries such as the Ridgeway massacre site in Dorset. Was it this mindset that powered the sudden eruption of the Vikings onto the European scene? Was it a belief in heroic death that made them so lastingly successful against so many bellicose opponents? Weighing the evidence of sagas and poems against the accounts of the Vikings’ victims, Tom Shippey considers these questions as he plumbs the complexities of Viking psychology. Along the way, he recounts many of the great bravura scenes of Old Norse literature, including the Fall of the House of the Skjoldungs, the clash between the two great longships Ironbeard and Long Serpent, and the death of Thormod the skald. One of the most exciting books on Vikings for a generation, Laughing Shall I Die presents Vikings for what they were: not peaceful explorers and traders, but warriors, marauders, and storytellers.