The Sagas of Icelanders: An Introduction to All Forty Sagas with Summaries
By Annette Lassen
Routledge
ISBN: 9781032814490
This book offers an introduction to the Icelandic sagas, detailing various aspects of the genre. It then provides mini-descriptions of 40 sagas, explaining their content, dating, and transmission.
Excerpt:
Iceland’s saga literature is a Nordic cultural legacy and world literature. One of the best-known groups of sagas is the sagas of Icelanders, powerful narratives about the life of free Icelanders in the late Viking Age. The sagas of Icelanders were recorded over a long period of time in the Middle Ages, and their world is manifold. There are classic and tragic narratives about love, grief, and family feuds; accounts of farmers, who fight one another; tough heroes, shrewd women, trolls, crafty imaginative strategists, and cranky skalds; about fateful expeditions to Greenland and an unknown world (Vinland, contemporary Canada).
Who is this book for?
This book offers a useful reference for anyone looking to delve deeper into the Icelandic sagas. The first half introduces key themes in the genre, including questions of historicity and literary style. The second half provides concise summaries of 40 sagas, each explored in roughly a page.
The Sagas of Icelanders: An Introduction to All Forty Sagas with Summaries
By Annette Lassen
Routledge
ISBN: 9781032814490
This book offers an introduction to the Icelandic sagas, detailing various aspects of the genre. It then provides mini-descriptions of 40 sagas, explaining their content, dating, and transmission.
Excerpt:
Iceland’s saga literature is a Nordic cultural legacy and world literature. One of the best-known groups of sagas is the sagas of Icelanders, powerful narratives about the life of free Icelanders in the late Viking Age. The sagas of Icelanders were recorded over a long period of time in the Middle Ages, and their world is manifold. There are classic and tragic narratives about love, grief, and family feuds; accounts of farmers, who fight one another; tough heroes, shrewd women, trolls, crafty imaginative strategists, and cranky skalds; about fateful expeditions to Greenland and an unknown world (Vinland, contemporary Canada).
Who is this book for?
This book offers a useful reference for anyone looking to delve deeper into the Icelandic sagas. The first half introduces key themes in the genre, including questions of historicity and literary style. The second half provides concise summaries of 40 sagas, each explored in roughly a page.
The Author
Annette Lassen is an Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen. She researches the Icelandic Sagas, Norse culture and Odin. See her article ‘Icelandic sagas: a source of reflection, entertainment, cultural awareness and tourism promotion‘
You can learn more about this book from the publisher’s website.
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