The Vinland Sagas

by Leifur Eiricksson

Keneva Kunz (Translator) and Gisli Sigurosson (Notes)

The Saga of the Greenlanders and Eirik the Red’s Saga contain the first ever descriptions of North America, a bountiful land of grapes and vines, discovered by Vikings five centuries before Christopher Columbus. Written down in the early thirteenth century, they recount the Icelandic settlement of Greenland by Eirik the Red, the chance discovery by seafaring adventurers of a mysterious new land, and Eirik’s son Leif the Lucky’s perilous voyages to explore it. Wrecked by storms, stricken by disease and plagued by navigational mishaps, some survived the North Atlantic to pass down this compelling tale of the first Europeans to talk with, trade with, and war with the Native Americans.

• ISBN10: 0140447768
• ISBN13: 9780140447767
• Publish Date: 24 April 2008
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Imprint: Penguin Classics
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 144
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780140447767

Reviews

[wcs53]

I started reading this book on a flight to Iceland last month as I thought it would be appropriate reading for such a journey. The book contains two sagas - The Saga of the Greenlanders and Eirik the Red's Saga. These are sagas concerning the first documented voyages across the Atlantic.

When I opened the book to discover that there were almost 50 pages of introduction I have to admit to being a bit worried. However, these pages proved to be very interesting and contained a lot of background about the writing and background of the two sagas, as well as comparing them and highlighting both the similarities and differences between them. The sagas themselves are full of colourful characters and offer a fascinating insight into the life of the Vikings round about a thousand years ago. There's a certain beauty, as well as some brutality, in the way they lived. The sagas themselves are not that long, but without the introduction and appendices it would be easy to miss much of what happens in them.

I have quite a few other books of sagas on my shelves and reading this little book has encouraged me to move them a little further up my mental TBR pile.