Product Description

Combining traditional myth, oral history and re-worked European legend to depict an ancient realm of heroism and wonder, the seven tales collected here are among the most fantastical of all the Norse romances. Powerfully inspired works of Icelandic imagination, they relate intriguing, often comical tales of famous kings, difficult gods and women of great beauty, goodness or cunning. The tales plunder a wide range of earlier literature from Homer to the French romances – as in the tale of the wandering hero Arrow-Odd, which combines several older legends, or Egil and Asmund, where the story of Odysseus and the Cyclops is skilfully adapted into a traditional Norse legend. These are among the most outrageous, delightful and exhilarating tales in all Icelandic literature.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #56033 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-26
• Original language: Icelandic
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Book Information
These medieval Viking romances, including Arrow-Odd and King Gautrek, inhabit some of the most enjoyable and exotic regions of the Icelandic imagination.

They tell of famous kings, difficult gods and women of great beauty, goodness or cunning; but although they paint the traditional colourful picture of the Viking warrior making raids in his dragon-headed longboat, these stories are not concerned, like Hrafnkel's Saga or Njal's Saga, for example, to point a moral or to set down the glories of Icelandic history or geography. Instead the narrators, witty and well-read, plundered sources from Homer to French romance, and incorporated local myths, legends and heroic tales in a bid to entertain us, capture our imagination and make us laugh.

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Customer Reviews

Top class adventures of Icelanders
The collection of stories is a refreshingly light break from some of the more complex saga literature. These are generally mythical adventures of famous Icelanders, from which I'd highlight Arrow-Odd and Bosi & Herraud as two outstanding tales. It's easier to identify with the main characters here than in many much drier, earlier works, though at the cost of losing some of the ambiguity, and of course realism, of the real-life stories and their subjects. Plenty of good solid adventure, and amusingly worded, raunchy scenes in B&H in particular.