The Sagas of Icelanders

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.

Jane Smiley's ten works of fiction include The Age of Grief, The Greenlanders, Ordinary Love and Good Will, Moo, A Thousand Acres (which won the Pulitzer Prize), and most recently the bestselling Horse Heaven.

List of Illustrations and Tables

Preface by Jane Smiley

Introduction by Robert Kellogg

Further Reading

A Note on the Texts

Sagas

Egil's Saga (trans. Bernard Scudder)

The Saga of the People of Vatnsdal (trans. Andrew Wawn)

The Saga of the People of Laxardal (trans. Keneva Kunz)

Bolli Bollason's Tale (trans. Keneva Kunz)

The Saga of Hrafnkel Frey's Godi (trans. Terry Gunnell)

The Saga of the Confederates (trans. Ruth C. Ellison)

Gisli Sursson's Saga (trans. Martin S. Regal)

The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-tongue (trans. Katrina C. Attwood)

The Saga of Ref the Sly (trans. George Clark)

The Vinland Sagas:

The Saga of the Greenlanders (trans. Keneva Kunz)

Eirik the Red's Saga (trans. Keneva Kunz)

Tales

The Tale of Thorstein Staff-struck (trans. Anthony Maxwell)

The Tale of Halldor Snorrason II (trans. Terry Gunnell)

The Tale of Sarcastic Halli (trans. George Clark)

The Tale of Thorstein Shiver (trans. Anthony Maxwell)

The Tale of Audun from the West Fjords (trans. Anthony Maxwell)

The Tale of the Story-wise Icelander (trans. Anthony Maxwell)

Reference Section:

Illustrations and Diagrams: Ships; The Farm; Social and Political Structure

Glossary

Index of Characters