ENGLISH

Eirik the Red and Other Icelandic Sagas

By Gwyn Jones

Book information

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Year
1982
ISBN
0192815288, 9780192815286
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
16 MB (16504422 bytes)
Series
The World’s Classics
Pages
XVII+318\340
Topic
Literature
Time added
2018-02-26 22:28:09

Description

The remote and inhospitable landscape of Iceland made it a perfect breeding-ground for heroes. The first Norsemen to colonize it in 860 found that the fight for survival demanded high courage and tough self reliance; it also nurtured a stern sense of duty and an uncompromising view of destiny. The Icelandic sagas relate the adventurous lives of individuals and families between 930 and 1030, which began as oral tales but were skilfully documented in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and are now regarded as written literature. Selected by Gwyn Jones - the eminent Celtic scholar- for their excellence and variety, these nine Icelandic sagas include "Hen-Thorir," "The Vapnfjord Men," "Thorstein Staff-Struck," "Hrafnkel the Priest of Prey," "Thidrandi whom the Goddesses Slew," "Authun and the Bear," "Gunnlaug Wormtongue," "King Hrolf and His Champions," and the title piece.

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