Meet to discuss - Eyrbyggja Saga by Hermann Palsson

We will discuss the book Eyrbyggja Saga by Hermann Palsson

This months discussion will be guest hosted by Denise, who many of the regular attendees to this group know well. This was her choice of book.

Eyrbyggja is a saga heavy on the supernatural. Characters do not always disappear when they are killed, but often return as ghosts to cause mischief, murder and, in one instance, to prepare a meal while stark naked! Hauntings, omens and visions of the afterlife are treated as part of the natural order of things.

This is essentially a saga of the clans of early Icelandic settlers, especially of their feuds and disputes, over two centuries. The genealogies get very confusing. The translator includes a List of Characters in the front and A Glossary of Personal Names at the back. You will be constantly referring to these, but will still get your Thorbrandssons mixed up with your Thorlakssons and wonder which Thorgrim is which. This work must be a treasure trove for Icelandic historians and geanalogists. One of the delights of the book is the occasional weird name, like Thorstein Cod-Biter and Ketil Flat-Nose.

This is not the courtly or romantic epic of the French or German culture of the same period. This is a narrative as hard, cold and bleak as the Icelandic landscape in which these characters struggle for survival. There is some black humour, and I guiltily confess to enjoying the story of the cowardly Scotsman. Speaking of Scots, this was Sir Walter Scott's favourite saga and might well have helped him to form the concept of the historical novel.

This is a readable translation with some useful footnotes and a good introduction. The latter however, should be left until you read the story itself, as it contains a lot of spoilers.