Sources on Iceland 3: The Sagas

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 If you want to understand Iceland you need to read the sagas. But which ones – there are loads of them?

These are the ones I enjoyed the most. It is well worth paying for a good translation - here the Penguin Classics brand earns its reputation for reliability. Penguin publishes a 700-page compendium of about thirty of them, entitled The Sagas of the Icelanders.

Njal’s Saga.

The longest and best. A legal thriller. The hero is Njál, a canny lawyer who tries and fails to mediate between families bearing grudges.

Egil’s Saga.

Egil was a great warrior with a bad temper and a flair for poetry.

The Laxdaela Saga.

A love triangle between three inhabitants of Breidafjördur: Gudrun, Kjartan and Bolli. Much blood is shed. Gudrun is one of the most fascinating characters in the sagas: don't mess with her.

Grettir’s Saga.

Grettir is an outlaw with a bad temper who fights humans and the undead.

Eyrbyggja Saga or The Saga of the People of Eyri.

The quarrels of various families in Snaefellsnes with a few berserkers, ghosts and soothsayers thrown in.

The Saga of the Volsungs.

The story of the ring. It’s been around for a while (both the ring and its story).

The Saga of Erik the Red, The Greenlanders’ Saga.

The travels of Erik and other Norsemen to Iceland, then Greenland and North America.

Next time: film and television.


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