Njal's Saga : Translated from the Old Icelandic : Myths Legends : Bayerschmidt

Njáls Saga
Translated from the Old Icelandic

With an Introduction and Notes by Carl F. Bayerschmidt and Lee M. Hollander

Published by George Allen and Unwin, London, 1956. First Edition. Hardback book in dust jacket. pp, xii, 389.

CONDITION
A very good clean copy in a very smart clean and unclipped dust jacket. Previous owner's small ink stamp to front endpaper.Overall very good.

Njáls saga, also Njála, Brennu-Njáls saga, or The Story of Burnt Njáll, is a thirteenth-century Icelandic saga that describes events between 960 and 1020.

The saga deals with a process of blood feuds in the Icelandic Commonwealth, showing how the requirements of honor could lead to minor slights spiralling into destructive and prolonged bloodshed. Insults where a character's manhood is called into question are especially prominent and may reflect an author critical of an overly restrictive ideal of masculinity. Another characteristic of the narrative is the presence of omens and prophetic dreams. It is disputed whether this reflects a fatalistic outlook on the part of the author.

The principal characters in the saga are the friends Njáll Þorgeirsson, a lawyer and a sage, and Gunnar Hámundarson, a formidable warrior. Gunnar's wife, Hallgerðr langbrók, instigates a feud that leads to the death of many characters over several decades including the killing by fire of the eponymous "Burnt Njáll".