The Sagas of Icelanders (Penguin Classics) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140291334 ISBN 13: 9780140291339

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd, 2001

Synopsis

In Iceland, the age of the Vikings is also known as the Saga Age. A unique body of medieval literature, the Sagas rank with the world’s great 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 in Iceland and of their descendants, who ventured farther west to Greenland and, ultimately, North America. Sailing as far from the archetypal heroic adventure as the long ships did from home, the Sagas are written with psychological intensity, peopled by characters with depth, and explore perennial human issues like love, hate, fate and freedom.

About this title

About the Author

Jane Smiley is the author of many novels, including A Thousand Acres which won the Pulitzer Prize, and The Greenlanders. Robert Kellogg divides his time between Reykjavik and Virginia, where he was Professor of Literature until his retirement. He is co-author of The Nature of Narrative.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Icelandic

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0140291334
• ISBN 13: 9780140291339
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 848
• Editor: Ornolfur Thorsson