Saga Thing

We begin the new year with a saga that has been compared to the works of Shakespeare himself. Not necessarily in a favorable light, but definitely compared. As we hinted in our 10th Anniversary episode, we're jumping into the sagas of Eyjafjörður in Northern Iceland (including Svarfdæla saga, Valla-Ljóts saga, Víga-Glúms saga, and Ljósvetninga saga). Up first is Svarfdæla saga, a surprisingly compelling (but sometimes frustrating) narrative that Jónas Kristjánsson described as "one of the greatest oddities among the sagas of Icelanders" in his book Eddas and Sagas (244). And if that doesn't sell you on it, then how about this fine quote from Fredrik Heinemann from his paper "Svarfdæla saga: The Norwegians and the Swedes," the saga efficiently characterizes minor and major figures with the deft brush strokes of saga writing at its best" (237). We think you'll agree after listening to this episode covering the first six chapters of the saga. In this episode, we meet two brothers called Thorolf and Thorstein. O