Reading Selected Sagas

Chapter 4 examines a selection of the most admired and most widely studied sagas of Icelanders. It demonstrates how the source traditions discussed in chapter 2 and the thematic concerns examined in chapter 3 come together in narrative explorations of identity. Themes of gender and sexuality, family, human and non-human relations, friendship, and more are explored in brief yet thorough overviews of these Icelandic stories. The texts discussed in detail include: Auðunar þáttr vestfirzka (“The Tale of Audun from the West Fjords”), the poets’ sagas (skáldasögur), Egils saga Skallagrímssonar, the Vínland sagas, outlaw sagas (Gísla saga and Grettis saga), Laxdæla saga and Njáls saga.