From Library Journal
The Icelandic Sagas are among the masterpieces of world literature whose composition stretches from about the year 1000 to 1500. Presenting the adventures of Norse and Viking heroes, the sagas are told with ritual simplicity and a realism that anticipate the modern novel. This volume offers nine full sagas and six tales, all new translations by various hands and all part of The Complete Sagas of the Icelanders, also edited by Thorsson. Published to mark the 1000th anniversary of Leif Ericksson's voyage to North America, as told in the Vinland Sagas, this selection includes (along with the Vinland Sagas) the famous Egil's Saga and that of Gisli Sursson. The volume also offers a preface by novelist Jane Smiley and a scholarly introduction by Robert Kellogg of the University of Virginia. Wonderful for anyone interested in world literature, this selection is recommended for public and academic libraries.-Thomas L. Cooksey, Armstrong State Coll., Savannah, GA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Milan Kundera
The glory of the Sagas is indisputable.


The Times Literary Supplement(London
Generally excellent, accurate and readable, these translations are sure to become the standard versions.


Ted Hughes
One of the great marvels of World Literature.... This is a dream come true.


Book Forum
...the sagas are some of the first great literary works...some of the most beautiful prose in the Western tradition...


Book Description
A unique body of medieval literature, the Sagas rank with the world's greatest literary treasures-as epic as Homer, as deep in tragedy as Sophocles, as engagingly human as Shakespeare. Set around the turn of the last millennium, these stories depict with an astonishingly modern realism the lives and deeds of the Norse men and women who first settled Iceland and of their descendants, who ventured further west-to Greenland and, ultimately, the coast of North America itself.

The 10 Sagas and seven shorter tales in this volume include the celebrated Vinland Sagas, which recount Leif Eiriksson's pioneering voyage to the New World and contain the oldest descriptions of the North American continent.


Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Icelandic


About the Author
Jane Smiley, whose preface opens this new selection of the Sagas, is the author of many novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Thousand Acres and The Greenlanders.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A unique body of medieval literature, the Sagas rank with the world's greatest literary treasures-as epic as Homer, as deep in tragedy as Sophocles, as engagingly human as Shakespeare. Set around the turn of the last millennium, these stories depict with an astonishingly modern realism the lives and deeds of the Norse men and women who first settled Iceland and of their descendants, who ventured further west-to Greenland and, ultimately, the coast of North America itself.

The 10 Sagas and seven shorter tales in this volume include the celebrated Vinland Sagas, which recount Leif Eiriksson's pioneering voyage to the New World and contain the oldest descriptions of the North American continent.

The glory of the Sagas is indisputable. (Milan Kundera)

Generally excellent, accurate and readable, these translations are sure to become the standard versions. (The Times Literary Supplement(London)

One of the great marvels of World Literature.... This is a dream come true. (Ted Hughes)

Author Bio: Jane Smiley, whose preface opens this new selection of the Sagas, is the author of many novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Thousand Acres and The Greenlanders.

FROM THE CRITICS

Book Forum

...the sagas are some of the first great literary works...some of the most beautiful prose in the Western tradition...

Library Journal

The Icelandic Sagas are among the masterpieces of world literature whose composition stretches from about the year 1000 to 1500. Presenting the adventures of Norse and Viking heroes, the sagas are told with ritual simplicity and a realism that anticipate the modern novel. This volume offers nine full sagas and six tales, all new translations by various hands and all part of The Complete Sagas of the Icelanders, also edited by Thorsson. Published to mark the 1000th anniversary of Leif Ericksson's voyage to North America, as told in the Vinland Sagas, this selection includes (along with the Vinland Sagas) the famous Egil's Saga and that of Gisli Sursson. The volume also offers a preface by novelist Jane Smiley and a scholarly introduction by Robert Kellogg of the University of Virginia. Wonderful for anyone interested in world literature, this selection is recommended for public and academic libraries.--Thomas L. Cooksey, Armstrong State Coll., Savannah, GA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Internet Bookwatch

The Sagas of Icelanders gathers accounts written in the vernacular by anonymous authors in Iceland during the 13th and 14th centuries, providing a surprisingly weighty collection which will prove essential for any student of early world literature and history. These sagas of Icelander explorers and experiences provide involving accounts a wide audience will find lively and educational.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Ted Hughes

The Icelandic Sagas remain one of the great marvels of world literature, a great human achievement. — Ted Hughes