Saga: A Novel Of Medieval Iceland |
Buy Saga: A Novel Of Medieval Iceland here, one of 750 Iceland History books offered for sale at discount prices here in the history books section at R bookshop. There are currently 88143 history books in our history books section, and over 1,000,000 books listed in our book store. We greatly appreciate your patronage at R bookshop and look forward to offering you a large selection of great books at discount prices now and in the future. Thank you for shopping at R Bookshop!
|
You Are Here: Home > History Books > Iceland History > Item 242
|
Saga: A Novel Of Medieval Iceland
|
by Jeff Janoda
Sales Rank: 474264
|
List Price: $26.50
$17.49
At Amazon
on 11-27-2008.
|
|
|
|
Features
Cover Type: Hard Cover with 359 pages
Published by: Academy Chicago Publishers April 15, 2005
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0897335325
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0897335324
Book Dimensions:
8.5 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
Weighs: 1.3 pounds
From Booklist
This detail-rich novel is a retelling of a thirteenth-century Icelandic saga written by an unknown author. The original document arose from the colonization of Iceland by Norwegian settlers, and this particular tale unfolds before the enticed reader's eye as an intriguing concoction of abject realism (the day-to-day livelihood as practiced by the colonizers is explained, and the physical features of the land are gorgeously described) and flights of fantasy (elves are coinhabitants of the Iceland presented here). The story line is essentially about land--who owns it, who disputes the ownership of it--in this hardscrabble agrarian society, where inheritance of land means everything, and honor (and necessary revenge against those who would besmirch it) is the essential tenet of life. Tribal organization and clan government are opened to contemporary viewing and appreciation. With the author's ability to pump viability into the characters, the novel does what good historical fiction is supposed to do: put a face on history that is recognizable to us all. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Product Review
"does what good historical fiction is supposed to do: put a face on history that is recognizable to us all." -- Booklist, May 15, 2005
Reader Reviews
As a lover of the Icelandic sagas, and fiction that aims to emulate them, I awaited my copy of this novel from amazon.com with a burning impatience. It finally came and I plunged right in. I was not disappointed. Jeff Janoda has written a fine piece of fiction, moving and powerful and true to the feel and spirit of the old sagas. As a writer of this sort of fiction myself (well, I've written one novel along these lines, anyway), I came to this one with some preconceptions, some personal prejudices. Indeed, I would not have approached the material as Janoda did, preferring to hew a closer line to the original saga voice. But Janoda won me over. While writing with a markedly modern sensibility and retaining the modern novelistic conventions, many of which stray far afield from the old saga techniques, Janoda brilliantly evoked the older saga form from which this novel arises. Here is the story of two Icelandic chieftains as Arnkel Thorolfsson struggles to increase his influence and standing at the expense of another chieftain, Snorri Thorgrimsson, known as Snorri the Priest in the literature, that sly Icelander who appears in so many of the great sagas (Njal's Saga, Laxdaela Saga). This particular tale is from Eyrbyggja Saga and is only one of several interwoven plots found there. But Janoda has teased it out and put flesh on the bare saga bones, creating a rich and compelling modern novel of real human beings contending with one another in a harsh and unforgiving land. In the process he has recreated that world in all the rich detail and grim coloration that is only limned in the traditional sagas. The beauty of what he's done is seen from the start as we enter the mind and heart of Ulfar Freedman, former slave of a local farmer who ekes out his livelihood on a holding that lies precariously adjacent to Arnkel Thorolfsson's steading and that of Arnkel's father, the brutal and vindictive Thorolf Lamefoot. Arnkel has his chieftainship as the result of a deal in which his father, Thorolf, sold Ulfar his property in order to buy Arnkel his position (chieftainships could be bought and sold in old Iceland). But Arnkel, who is not only proud and fierce but a good deal cleverer than his father, sees that his chieftainship came at a very great cost, the break-up and diminution of Thorolf's land holdings, thus impairing Arnkel's future inheritance. Arnkel is not prepared to pay that price and wants his full inheritance back. In fact, Thorolf, Arnkel's father, actually gained his formerly vast landholdings by killing Arnkel's grandfather in a duel after brutalizing and abandoning Arnkel's mother, the old man's proud and arrogant daughter, Gudrid. Gudrid, for her part, desperately wants her father's lands back in their entirety, too, wishing only ill on Thorolf, her former husband and tormentor, and has raised Arnkel with these things in mind. And thus the hapless and somewhat timid Ulfar finds himself an unwitting pawn in a struggle that pits Arnkel against his father, and both of them against Ulfar's own former master, Thorbrand and his six sons. Though neighbors of Arnkel godhi, the Thorbrandssons are aligned with the famous Snorri of Helgafell, in hopes of counterbalancing Arnkel's growing strength in the district. Old Thorbrand, Ulfar's former master, also has designs on Ulfar's farm since, under Icelandic law, it reverts to him as the former master, if Ulfar dies without an heir. But Ulfar has found himself a wife and has thus inadvertently set in motion the wheels that will grind him into dust between these harsh men. The story unfolds with much greater focus and depth than is found in the original sagas and this is part of its genius. Janoda has found what may very well be the true story of human struggle, in its endless complexity, that lay beneath what is merely a brief sub-plot in the original Eyrbyggja Saga. There the story is tersely told. It's not always clear who has done what to whom, or why. But Janoda has fleshed out the events with real people including Auln, Ulfar's betrayed wife and Halla, the arrogant daughter of Arnkel who has inherited the domineering persona of her grandmother Gudrid but who can't help desiring Thorbrand's youngest son, Illugi. The complex game plays out as these people strive for primacy over one another, destroying lives and hope for those around them in the process. The sagas are wonderful in the richness of the stories they have to tell and it's Janoda's great strength that he has found the rich vein of human greed, folly and striving that is buried deep within the best of them. Here he has dug out the ore and refined it to purest narrative gold. If you like sagas and the novels that derive from them, this is one of the best. SWM The Golden Warrior: The Story of Harold and William The King of Vinland's Saga
Back To Top
|
Saga: A Novel Of Medieval Iceland
Available from Amazon
Price: $17.49
Updated on 11-27-2008.
|
NOTICE: All prices, availability, and specifications
are subject to verification by their respective retailers.
| We offer Saga: A Novel Of Medieval Iceland and other related Iceland History Books here at Rbookshop.com. To view more books about Iceland History please use the previous and next buttons near the top of this page.
|
|
Search for books at
