The Icelandic Sagas

The Icelandic Sagas have a special niche in the world's literature.
They were written between ca. 1100 AD and 1300 AD
in the Icelandic language, at a time
when almost everybody else in the world was writing in Latin.
There has been a lot of discussion on whether the
Icelandic Sagas are true history, or pure fiction.
This discussion is really academic
as the Icelandic Sagas are true in the sense
that they are great literature, and all great literature
is true in the sense that it lifts the reader to another plane.

The fate of the Icelandic Sagas has mainly been one of
tragic loss and triumphant finds, which are few
and far between.
The fate of the Icelandic Sagas can be illustrated
by relating the story of the Saga that is considered
to be the oldest of them all:
Heiðarvígasaga or The Saga of the Heath-Slayings.
In the 17th century this Saga existed only on one
manuscript on vellum, which ended up in Sweden
among other manuscripts. Already the first part of the Saga
had been lost, and nobody knows how long that was.
The great manuscript collector, Árni Magnússon,
borrowed a part of the manuscript and it was sent to him
in Copenhagen, to be copied.
This contained the middle part of the Saga.
Both the original manuscript and the copy were destroyed
in the Great Fire of Copenhagen in 1728.
Árni's secretary later re-wrote this part of the story,
and that is better than nothing.
But due to an oversight the last part of the Saga
had been left in Stockholm, and was re-discovered
there late in the 18th century.
But even from that part one page was missing,
but fortunately that was discovered in Iceland a few years ago.
This is of course an extreme case,
although we know of Icelandic Sagas that have
completely disappeared, references are made to them in other Sagas,
and later compositions, so these Sagas were
at one time extant, but alas, no more.

Many of the more popular Sagas, such as The Saga of Burnt Njal,
are very well preserved, and numerous copies,
both on vellum and paper attest to their
popularity during the ages.

The literary style of the Sagas was unique until this century
when it was re-invented by modern authors.
The Icelandic Sagas only contain straight conversation
and descriptions of events, people and places.
Nowhere is there added what any person in them is thinking,
the acts or the words speak for themselves.
Usually the Icelandic Sagas are terse and their sparse
use of prose makes them an unique cultural heritage.
A cultural heritage that has shaped the
Icelandic people through the ages.
The heroes of the Sagas: Gunnar, Skarphéðinn, Grettir,
to name but a few are household friends
in almost every Icelandic home.
It is only in the last few years that other heroes
have started to replace them
in the minds of young Icelanders.
But, even so, one can still find
the Sagas in almost every home in Iceland.

A few links to the Sagas in English follow:
Heimskringla, Snorri Sturluson's stories of Norse Kings and Icelanders,
Brennu-Njáls saga - The Saga of Burnt Njall,
Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar - The Saga of Grettir the Strong
and Kormáks saga - The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald