Silmarillion Writers' Guild

Himring and Bunn have kindly offered to lead a reading of Sigurd and Gudrun that will take place on the SWG Discord. Here is their announcement below; if you are new to Discord and need assistance in getting involved, please feel free to comment here or contact us at moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org.

It was suggested on the Discord server earlier in March that the SWG should do a read-along of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrún. These poetic retellings of Old Norse poetry by Tolkien are not themselves part of Tolkien's Legendarium, but reflect his engagement with Scandinavian myths and legends, which is an important influence on the Legendarium. They also show him experimenting with Scandinavian poetic form.

We are planning to start the read-along on a dedicated channel of the SWG Discord on Saturday 6 April at 10 am (BST). We plan to read the whole book over the course of five weeks; see schedule below. As we expect to be a small friendly group that is also spread out over several time zones, we will not schedule set times for discussion but invite participants to comment at their leisure. We will keep an eye on the discussion in the channel and react as our availability permits. This is the first read-along we are leading, so please be tolerant of our failings and polite to fellow participants!

Bunn & Himring

---

Reading schedule

First week (6-12 April): Introduction, "Beginning", and "Andvari's Gold" (unnumbered section and I, with the relevant part of Commentary on the Lay of the Volsungs)

Second week (13-19 April): "Signy" to "Regin" (sections II - IV, with the relevant part of Commentary on the Lay of the Volsungs)

Third week (20-26 April): "Brynhild" to "Strife" (sections V-IX, with the relevant part of Commentary on the Lay of the Volsungs)

Fourth week (27 April-3 May): Lay of Gudrun & Commentary

Fifth week (4 May-11 May): Appendices A to C, including "Attila"