Njal’s Saga (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature) Paperback – December 4, 1999

Njal’s Saga by Lee M. Hollander. Njal’s Saga is the finest of the

Icelandic sagas, and one of the world’s greatest prose works

Written c.1280, about events a couple of centuries earlier, it is divided into three parts: the first recounts the touching friendship between noble Gunnar and the statesman Njal, together with the fatal enmity between their wives

The second part works out the central tragedy of the saga, while the third describes the retribution wrought by Flosi and Kari

The saga is remarkable not only for the details of everyday life  the farming, the feasting and the charcoal-burning – but also for the social structure of the society in which that life took place – the Althing or Parliament, the lawmaking and the lawgiving

The grandeur of the narrative and the beauty and distinction of the characters mark Njal’s Saga as an essential text for all who love adventure and great literature