The Weather in the Icelandic Sagas
The Weather in the Icelandic Sagas

Author: Bernadine McCreesh

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2019-01-15

Total Pages: 167

ISBN-13: 1527525597

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The descriptions of the weather in medieval Icelandic sagas have long been considered unimportant, mere adjuncts to the action. This is not true: the way the weather is depicted can give us an insight into the minds of medieval Icelanders. The first part of this book illustrates how the Christian world-view of authors of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries influenced their descriptions of meteorological conditions in earlier times. The second part is more literary in approach. It points out the formulaic nature of descriptions of storms, and shows how references to the weather help to structure the narrative in some sagas. It also demonstrates how medieval Icelandic attitudes to the weather affect the portrayal of the hero.

THE SPIES WHO CAME BACK TO THE COLD: An Icelandic saga of secret agents, intelligence agencies, deception, political intrigue and international diplomacy during the Second World War
THE SPIES WHO CAME BACK TO THE COLD: An Icelandic saga of secret agents, intelligence agencies, deception, political intrigue and international diplomacy during the Second World War

Author: Bernard O'Connor

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2017-03-03

Total Pages: 484

ISBN-13: 1326931350

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During the Second World War, the German Intelligence Service infiltrated specially-trained agents into Iceland to collect military, naval, aviation and meteorological intelligence to be transmitted back to Hamburg by wireless or secret writing. Some agents managed to evade capture for a few weeks but most handed themselves into the authorities shortly after landing. Sent to London for interrogation by MI5, rather than be executed as enemy spies, they revealed their life stories and provided details of their training, their instructors and how they were infiltrated. They included Olev Saetrang, Ib Riis, Sigurjon Jonsson, Jens Palsson, Peter Thomsen aka Jens Fridriksson, Larus Thorsteinsson, Einar Sigvaldason, Magnus Gudbjornsson, Sverrir Matthiasson, Ernst Fresenius, Sigurdur Juliusson, Hjalti Bjornsson and Gudbrandur Hlidar. Three of these spies were 'turned', used as double agents to transmit British-inspired messages to deceive the Germans about Arctic convoys and a fake Allied invasion of Norway.

Iceland Saga
Iceland Saga

Author: Magnus Magnusson

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2016-10-21

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0750981830

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Magnus Magnusson relates the world-famous Icelandic sagas to the spectacular living landscapes of today, taking the reader on a literary tour of the mountains, valleys, and fjords where the heroes and heroines of the sagas lived out their eventful lives. He also tells the story of the first Viking settler, Ingolfur Anarson.

Narrative in the Icelandic Family Saga
Narrative in the Icelandic Family Saga

Author: Heather O'Donoghue

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-01-28

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1786736314

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Representative of a unique literary genre and composed in the 13th and 14th centuries, the Icelandic Family Sagas rank among some of the world's greatest literature. Here, Heather O'Donoghue skilfully examines the notions of time and the singular textual voice of the Sagas, offering a fresh perspective on the foundational texts of Old Norse and medieval Icelandic heritage. With a conspicuous absence of giants, dragons, and fairy tale magic, these sagas reflect a real-world society in transition, grappling with major new challenges of identity and development. As this book reveals, the stance of the narrator and the role of time – from the representation of external time passing to the audience's experience of moving through a narrative – are crucial to these stories. As such, Narrative in the Icelandic Family Saga draws on modern narratological theory to explore the ways in which saga authors maintain the urgency and complexity of their material, handle the narrative and chronological line, and offer perceptive insights into saga society. In doing so, O'Donoghue presents a new poetics of family sagas and redefines the literary rhetoric of saga narratives.

The Icelandic Saga
The Icelandic Saga

Author: Peter Hallberg

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 1962-01-01

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 9780803250826

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In this stimulating and reliable introduction to the Icelandic saga, Peter Hallberg correctly designates the genre as "Scandinavia's sole, collective original contribution to world literature." These prose narratives dating from the thirteenth century are characterized by a psychological realism which sets them apart from all other contemporary forms of European literature. Mr. Hallberg's emphasis is on the branch of saga literature which deals with the native heroes--with the settlement of Iceland by Norse chieftains and with the lives of these settlers and their descendants. After disposing of the controversial "free-prose" theory of the origin and transmission of these stories, the author treats such problems as style and character portrayal, dreams and destinies, values and ideals, humor and irony. Several of the major sagas are studied in some detail. The concluding discussion concerns the decline of saga writing and the role played by the Sagas in modern Scandinavian life and literature. Paul Schach's introduction and copious annotation furnish additional background material and bibliographical references to English translations of the individual sagas and to significant studies on the major problems of saga research. Although intended primarily for the layman, The Icelandic Saga is of value to the specialist since it judiciously evaluates and incorporates the revolutionary findings of the so-called "Icelandic school" of saga study.

The Cambridge Introduction to the Old Norse-Icelandic Saga
The Cambridge Introduction to the Old Norse-Icelandic Saga

Author: Margaret Clunies Ross

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-10-28

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 1139492640

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The medieval Norse-Icelandic saga is one of the most important European vernacular literary genres of the Middle Ages. This Introduction to the saga genre outlines its origins and development, its literary character, its material existence in manuscripts and printed editions, and its changing reception from the Middle Ages to the present time. Its multiple sub-genres - including family sagas, mythical-heroic sagas and sagas of knights - are described and discussed in detail, and the world of medieval Icelanders is powerfully evoked. The first general study of the Old Norse-Icelandic saga to be written in English for some decades, the Introduction is based on up-to-date scholarship and engages with current debates in the field. With suggestions for further reading, detailed information about the Icelandic literary canon, and a map of medieval Iceland, this book is aimed at students of medieval literature and assumes no prior knowledge of Scandinavian languages.

The Medieval Icelandic Saga and Oral Tradition
The Medieval Icelandic Saga and Oral Tradition

Author: Gísli Sigurðsson

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13:

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This work explores the role of orality in shaping and evaluating medieval Icelandic literature. Applying field studies of oral cultures in modern times to this distinguished medieval literature, G sli Sigur sson asks how it would alter our reading of medieval Icelandic sagas if it were assumed they had grown out of a tradition of oral storytelling, similar to that observed in living cultures. Sigur sson examines how orally trained lawspeakers regarded the emergent written culture, especially in light of the fact that the writing down of the law in the early twelfth century undermined their social status. Part II considers characters, genealogies, and events common to several sagas from the east of Iceland between which a written link cannot be established. Part III explores the immanent or mental map provided to the listening audience of the location of Vinland by the sagas about the Vinland voyages. Finally, this volume focuses on how accepted foundations for research on medieval texts are affected if an underlying oral tradition (of the kind we know from the modern field work) is assumed as part of their cultural background. This point is emphasized through the examination of parallel passages from two sagas and from mythological overlays in an otherwise secular text.

The Saga of Grettir the Strong: Grettir's Saga
The Saga of Grettir the Strong: Grettir's Saga

Author: Anonymous

Publisher: Good Press

Published: 2021-04-25

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13:

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'The Saga of Grettir the Strong' is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It details the life of Grettir Ásmundarson, a bellicose Icelandic outlaw. The first part of the story primarily focuses on how Grettir's viking great-grandfather Onundur Tree-foot escaped Norway to settle in Iceland after fighting in the Battle of Hafrsfjord against the first king of Norway Harald Fairhair.