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issue here. Nevertheless, much space is in fact given to the
genesis of the Nibelungenlied (and of other heroic matter) and the
theories of Lachmann, Heusler, Kurt Wais, Wolfgang Mohr and
others (including in the background Milman Parry and A. B. Lord)
are critically evaluated. The conclusion reached by D. von Kralik
that there must have existed parallel lays is mentioned, though
without explicit reference to the work of that scholar.
Apart from the lack of a formally listed select bibliography, any
shortcomings in Professor von See's book lie in certain quite
intractable problems in the nature of some of the material
combined with the fact that not all can be said on an extremely
complex and widely ramified subject in the space of 178 pages.
The author is to be congratulated on having produced a wellwritten
compendium which is well worth the reading - and not
only by the educated layman.
R. G. FINCH
DIE GESTALT DER HAVAMAL. By KLAUS VON SEE. Atheniium
Verlag. Frankfurt/Main, 1972.
The Hauamdl contains material of very various kinds and
consequently critics have seen in it some six poems, or relics of
six or more. Especially the first section (vv. 1-79) has been the
field for emendation, radical re-arrangement of strophes and
expurgation, as scholars have sought to distinguish an
ur-Hduamai.
K. von See approaches the problem in a rather different way.
In the Codex Regius the poem opens with the title Haoamd;
(Words of the High One, 61'5inn). This title is repeated in the
final strophe (164) and echoed in v. III:
Hava hollu at,
Hava hollu I,
heyrl'5a ek segia sva ...
Consequently we can say that the redactor of the extant text
regarded the whole as the "words of 6l'5inn" in spite of great
differences in form, sentiment and subject. Von See (p. II) uses
the term "redactor" (Redaktor) for want of a better, recognizing
that "final poet" (der letzte Dichter) might be more appropriate.
The first section (1-79) is the one which scholars have regarded
as least appropriate to 6l'5inn. 61'5inn appears clearly as the
speaker only in vv. 13-14, but there are several reasons for
considering the rest of this section as words of 6l'5inn. He is,