The Nibelungen Tradition: An Encyclopedia

Within the English-speaking world, no work of the German High Middle Ages is better known than the Nibelungenlied, which has stirred the imagination of artists and readers far beyond its land of origin. Its international influence extends from literature to music, art, film, politics and propaganda, psychology, archeology, and military history. Now for the first time all references to the vast Nibelungen tradition have been catalogued in this comprehensive encyclopedia containing nearly 1000 entries by several dozen international contributors, including the most distinguished scholars in the field. Readers will find illuminating passages on a wide variety of topics, including literary and extra-literary references, characters and place names, significant motifs and concepts, historical background, and cultural reception through the centuries. This monumental work is an invaluable guide to a fascinating, age-old tradition.

Francis G. Gentry is Professor and Codirector at the Max Kade German-American Research Institute at The Pennsylvania State University Winder McConnell is Professor of German and Chairman of the Department of German and Russian and Director of Medieval Studies at the University of California, Davis Ulrich Muller is Professor at the Institut fur Germanistik at the Universitat Salzburg Werner Wunderlich is Professor of German at the Universitat St. Gallen