Stephan Grundy

Stephan Grundy (born 1967 in New York, U.S.) is an American author. Being versed in particularly the Germanic mythology and cultural history, Grundy is known best for his modern adaptations of legendary sagas. Some of his work is published under the pseudonym Kveldulf Gundarsson.

Born 1967 in New York, Stephan Grundy grew up mainly in Dallas in the U.S. state of Texas.

Publications

Under the pseudonym "Kveldulf Gundarsson," Grundy prior to his first novel brought two non-fiction books to paper, which dealt with Germanic religion and magic.

Rhinegold

Grundy began working on his first complete novel during his first year at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he was studying English and German philology. Originally, the Anglo-Saxon epic poem "Beowulf" was intended to be the novel’s fundament, yet Grundy was convinced by his professor Dr. Stephen Flowers (author of numerous widely respected works about Germanic history and magic) that the Nibelung myth would be a far more appropriate basis for a first novel.

The largest part of the novel Grundy wrote down in a dormitory in St. Andrews, Scotland, where he spent one year as an exchange student. Also one year as an exchange student he spent—virtually at the foot of the "Drachenberg"—in Bonn, Germany, what he combined with the research for his novel (which led Grundy all across Scandinavia as well). "Rhinegold" — adorned with dedications to, amongst others, Richard Wagner and J. R. R. Tolkien— came out in 1994, and quickly developed into an international best-seller. In the same year, Grundy graduated at the University of Cambridge with a thesis on Wotan, the Germanic god of war "(“The Cult of Óðinn: God of Death?”).

Attila’s Treasure

Two years later, 1996, Grundy completed the novel "Attila’s Treasure," in whose centre stands to a lesser extend Attila the Hun, but rather Grundy’s favourite legendary figure Hagen. This novel, too, was an internationel success, but to a lesser degree than the forerunner novel "Rhinegold."

Gilgamesh

The novel was followed by the 1999 opus "Gilgamesh," a modern adaptation of the Sumerian "Epic of Gilgamesh." It attempted, in a courageous and sensitive manner, to address directly the unequivocally homosexual nature of the original text largely ignored by modern scholars. The reactions of the readership were quite ambivalent, but altogether this work is considered weaker than Grundy’s two earlier novels by the larger part of his readers.Who|date=April 2008

Bibliography

* Kveldulf Gundarsson: "Teutonic Magic: The Magical and Spiritual Practices of the Germanic People," 1990
* Kveldulf Gundarsson: "Teutonic Religion: Folk Beliefs & Practices of the Northern Tradition," 1993
* Stephan Grundy: "Rhinegold," 1994
* Stephan Grundy: "Attila’s Treasure," 1996
* Stephan Grundy: "Gilgamesh," 1999
* Stephan and Melodi Grundy: "Falcon’s Flight," 2000
* Stephan and Melodi Grundy: "Eagle and Falcon," 2002
* Stephan and Melodi Grundy: "Falcon’s Night," 2002