The Sagas of Icelanders
Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions
Jane Smiley - Editor
ISBN 9780141000039 | 848 pages | 01 Mar 2001 | Penguin | 5.59 x 8.54in | 18 - AND UP
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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.
"A testimony to the human spirit's ability not only to endure what fate may send it but to be renewed by the experience." --Seamus Heaney "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) |
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