Eirik the Red and other Icelandic Sagas (Oxford World’s Classics) - 9780199539154 - Softcover

"With its account of the Norse discovery of North America and its fine translation of Hrolfs Saga (indispensable for any serious study of the mythic Beowulf), this text remains the single best saga intro. in print."--Stephen Glosecki, University of Alabama "I require my Beowulf students to read Hrolf Kraki's Saga, and GJ's translation in this book is both excellent . . . and readily available."--Marijane Osborn, University of California, Davis "Still the best single-volume collection of Viking tales in English."--James Massengale, University of California, Los Angeles "[Jones's] English has a yeasty Welshness in it that corresponds quite nicely to the idiomatic springiness of the original."--L. Michael Bell, University of Colorado "With its account of the Norse discovery of North America and its fine translation of Hrolfs Saga (indispensable for any serious study of the mythic Beowulf), this text remains the single best saga intro. in print."--Stephen Glosecki, University of Alabama "I require my Beowulf students to read Hrolf Kraki's Saga, and GJ's translation in this book is both excellent . . . and readily available."--Marijane Osborn, University of California, Davis "Still the best single-volume collection of Viking tales in English."--James Massengale, University of California, Los Angeles "[Jones's] English has a yeasty Welshness in it that corresponds quite nicely to the idiomatic springiness of the original."--L. Michael Bell, University of Colorado "With its account of the Norse discovery of North America and its fine translation of Hrolfs Saga (indispensable for any serious study of the mythic Beowulf), this text remains the single best saga intro. in print."--Stephen Glosecki, University of Alabama "I require my Beowulf students to read Hrolf Kraki's Saga, and GJ's translation in this book is both excellent . . . and readily available."--Marijane Osborn, University of California, Davis "Still the best single-volume collection of Viking tales in English."--James Massengale, University of California, Los Angeles "[Jones's] English has a yeasty Welshness in it that corresponds quite nicely to the idiomatic springiness of the original."--L. Michael Bell, University of Colorado "With its account of the Norse discovery of North America and its fine translation of Hrolfs Saga (indispensable for any serious study of the mythic Beowulf), this text remains the single best saga intro. in print."--Stephen Glosecki, University of Alabama "I require my Beowulf students to read Hrolf Kraki's Saga, and GJ's translation in this book is both excellent . . . and readily available."--Marijane Osborn, University of California, Davis "Still the best single-volume collection of Viking tales in English."--James Massengale, University of California, Los Angeles "[Jones's] English has a yeasty Welshness in it that corresponds quite nicely to the idiomatic springiness of the original."--L. Michael Bell, University of Colorado

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. (2010-11-23)