Njals Saga

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Written in the thirteenth century, Njal s Saga is a story that explores perennial human problems from failed marriages to divided loyalties, from the law s inability to curb human passions to the terrible consequences when decent men and women are swept up in a tide of violence beyond their control It is populated by memorable and complex characters like Gunnar of Hlidarendi, a powerful warrior with an aversion to killing, and the not so villainous Mord Valgardsson Full of dreams, strange prophecies, violent power struggles, and fragile peace agreements, Njal s Saga tells the compelling story of a fifty year blood feud that, despite its distance from us in time and place, is driven by passions familiar to us all This Penguin Classics edition includes an introduction, chronology, index of characters, plot summary, explanatory notes, maps, and suggestions for further reading. New Read Books Njals Saga author Anonymous – kino-fada.fr Often when thinking about the rise of the European novel there s a tendency to look to Cervantes or maybe back to The Golden Ass Yet longer sagas like Njal s saga seem to be very much like novels to me.This is an amazing work Partially based on fact and around factual events such as the coming of Christianity to Iceland view spoiler established in this story thanks to bribery apparently hide spoiler the saga traces a quarrel As it gets out of hand and men reach for weapons calmer heads Often when thinking about the rise of the European novel there s a tendency to look to Cervantes or maybe back to The Golden Ass Yet longer sagas like Njal s saga seem to be very much like novels to me.This is an amazing work Partially based on fact and around factual events such as the coming of Christianity to Iceland view spoiler established in this story thanks to bribery apparently hide spoiler the saga traces a quarrel As it gets out of hand and men reach for weapons calmer heads build settlements between the angry parties However the causes of unhappiness cause the quarrel to break out repeatedly, each time aspeople die, other families are dragged...I really enjoyed this one There s some likeable characters even from my soft hearted modern point of view who I really got to care about, which isn t always the case with sagas I was kind of sad when they went out of the saga The translation is good, clear and easy to read, and there s helpful footnotes, a good introduction, and other helpful supplementary material As with all sagas, there s an awful lot of names, but it s still pretty easy to follow.I found some of it amusing in a som I really enjoyed this one There s some likeable characters even from my soft hearted modern point of view who I really got to care about, which isn t always the case with sagas I was kind of sad when they went out of the saga The translation is good, clear and easy to read, and there s helpful footnotes, a good introduction, and other helpful supplementary material As with all sagas, there s an awful lot of names, but it s still pretty easy to follow.I found some of it amusing in a somewhat macabre way especially at the beginning, with Hallgerd s bloodthirsty nature In the end, the eye for an eye mentality of the characters becomes amusing because of the excess of it, to me Gunnar and Njal are refreshing in their refusal to feud with each other.A lot of the saga is based on the points of the law, as well as the killing, which is interesting Someone compared it to a John Grisham book for the Norse, which well, I can see thei...It is one of the greatest crimes of recent literature that Penguin has replaced this one of the truly great English translations of any work by anyone with a horrendously execrable translation whose only distinguishing characteristic is that it was donerecently Seek out Magnus Magnusson s translation thankfully there are oodles and oodles of them second hand due to it being assigned in college courses for decades at ...3.5 5There are a lot of written works out there that were never composed solely for the sake of entertainment Today, these are customarily churned through for philosophical social religious historical various other noble concerns All very well, butrare are the ones through which one can get a firm grip on the origin of How to Get Away with Murder in all its sordid glory abusing circumstantial technicalities, citing obscure parts of archaic rulings, fighting fire with fire, all in the 3.5 5There are a lot of written works out there that were never composed solely for the sake of entertainment Today, these are customarily churned through for philosophical social religious historical various other noble concerns All very well, butrare are the ones through which one can get a firm grip on the origin of How to Get Away with Murder in all its sordid glory abusing circumstantial technicalities, citing obscure parts of archaic rulings, fighting fire with fire, all in the effort to, leastwise in terms of the main story, continue the toppling dominoes of a revenge tragedy I won t pretend I didn t find the TV show farengaging than the saga, but that s a natural consequence of modern taste and modern law You won t find habeas corpus or DNA evidence or drone surveillance in the world of Njal Instead, you ll get outlaws, premonitions, fifty bajilliion witnesses, hundreds of judges, gigantic religious shifts, lawyers, and the kind of eviden...One of the best sagas, without a doubt Epic in scale, but still intensely human, the story of burnt Njal is dramatic, moving and highly entertaining The saga style takes some getting used to if you ve never experienced it before It is terse, to the point, characterisation and description is kept to a bare minimum, the plot races along at break neck speed, there s a plethora of characters a lot of whom have very similar names It requires concentration, and you ll almost certainly have to One of the best sagas, without a doubt Epic in scale, but still intensely human, the story of burnt Njal is dramatic, moving and highly entertaining The saga style takes some getting used to if you ve never experienced it before It is terse, to the point, characterisation and description is kept to a bare minimum, the plot races along at break neck speed, there s a plethora of characters a lot of whom have very similar names It requires concentration, and you ll almost certainly have to resort to consulting the family trees so thoughtfully included It made me laugh when I saw a family tree included in One Hundred Years of Solitude Six generations I scoffed, That s nothing, even if they do all have the same names Njal s Saga has seven Thorsteins, eight Thorkels, six Thorgeirs, six Thorgerds and about forty other characters whose names begin with Thor Althoug...An amazing, tragic family drama and one of the greatest works I read in college In fact, as you will note from my shelving, it s one of my favorite books of all time This has everything romance, heartbreak, action, legal drama And it introduced me to Njal s son Skarp Hedin, the greatest..._Njal s Saga_ is one of the classics of the medieval genre of the Family Saga, if not perhaps the classic It has everything you could want in a saga extended genealogies of multiple families, inter family conflict between said families through the generations, shifting loyalties, intrigue, bloody battles, crazy nicknames, sardonic witticisms, and enough legal jargon to keep Perry Mason happy It is populated with characters that seem real and often multidimensional even when they are larger th _Njal s Saga_ is one of the classics of the medieval genre of the Family Saga, if not perhaps the classic It has everything you could want in a saga extended genealogies of multiple families, inter family conflict between said families through the generations, shifting loyalties, intrigue, bloody battles, crazy nicknames, sardonic witticisms, and enough legal jargon to keep Perry Mason happy It is populated with characters that seem real and often multidimensional even when they are larger than life and gives an intriguing insight into the way of l...So engrossing that I missed my bus stop once while reading on the bus I think that is a good sign.Basically guys hack each other to pieces for 50 years until eventually the only two dudes left finally make peace People who are all like Oh our culture is so violent nowadays should read this for a little perspective Because a guy will be like Where s so and so And another guy will be like Oh, I severed his head And the first guy will be like Oh, that seems like something you d do And So engrossing that I missed my bus stop once while reading on the bus I think that is a good sign.Basically guys hack each other to pieces for 50 years until eventually the only two dudes left finally make peace People who are all like Oh our culture is so violent nowadays should read this for a little perspective Because a guy will be like Where s so and so And another guy will be like Oh, I severed his head And the first guy will be like Oh, that seems like something you d do And then life moves on and somebody owes somebody money All that being said, it was very gripping And here is a life lesson If a bunch of armed men come to your house to kill you, and you are standing there with a bunch of other armed men do NOT go inside your house.I now present to you a list of extremely delightful names from this book mostly from the genealogies Sigurd Snake in the EyeRagnar Hairy BreeksKetil Flat NoseUlf the UnwashedMord FiddleOrm Wood NoseThorolf Creek NoseHraerek the Ring ScattererOlvir the Child...A legal saga with gratuitious violence, revenge,strong characters and what I would call magical realism It makes me want to visit the site of Njal s farm in Iceland a country I am fascinated by but only get to pass through.And our cat is now called Ragnar Hairy BreeksThe original Kill Bill

Njals Saga
  • English
  • 07 November 2017
  • Paperback
  • 384 pages
  • 0140447695
  • Anonymous
  • Njals Saga