ENCOUNTERING THE SAGAS

Abstract

Chapter 1 is an introductory chapter. Between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, Icelanders produced as rich, varied, and extensive a vernacular literature as was produced anywhere in medieval Europe. That literature has been central to Icelandic cultural identity. It has also played a prominent role in the formation of national identity in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, as well as in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Germany. Medieval Icelandic literature has also inspired many notable writers in English since the eighteenth century. This chapter begins by reading a couple of short episodes from Eiriks saga rauða in which Norse explorers encounter Native Americans as parallels to the encounter between modern readers and the medieval Icelandic sagas. The chapter goes on to consider what an Icelandic saga is and to delineate the different saga genres. It also introduces the language of the sagas, explaining the terms Old Norse and Old Icelandic.