Customer Reviews

Njal's Saga (Penguin Classics)

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My online nickname, Thorvald, may give you a hint that I'm fond of the Norse Sagas :-) . Of them all, this is my favorite.

The Sagas are adventure stories, historical novels, and family histories all in one. They were written approximately 800 years ago about the Nordic world around the turn of the last millennium. The Magnusson and Paulson translations are quite good, very readable, but don't expect to find anything resembling a modern novel.

The Norse Vikings were quiet farmers, talented poets and artists, politically enlightened people with a democratic government and strong rights for women...then they'd get drunk and head off for a fun-filled summer of rape, pillage, and slave-taking. They were cooly dispassionate about everything, including death for even their gods would die eventually. Though the saga writers were Christians (Iceland converted in the year 1000), they present the pagen Norse religion without editorial comment. They write about it as about everything, in a very unemotional manner.

The unemotional tone is one that the modern reader will find most odd yet, as you read more sagas, may begin to appreciate. The sagas have a clear, bright, unencumbered atmosphere to them. Events are presented, people live, act, and die and it is left to the reader to decide how they must have felt. Consider a modern newscast--the reporter will inevitably ask, "How do you feel about that?" Current style is to try to delve into feelings and emotions rather than facts and events. The sagas are the opposite.

Terrific Viking stories in a fascinating world lost to time.

This is a highly readable translation (although not the only one) of a work of literature that has several familiar names. In full, it is "Brennu-Njals Saga," or "The Story of Burned Njal," but just plain "Njals-Saga" is equally correct. And, like several other sagas, it has a nickname in its native Iceland, "Njala" (like "Grettla," for "Grettir's Saga"). It is generally conceded to be the outstanding monument of a burst of literary productivity at the very edge of medieval European civilization. For those who know it, with its unforgettable portraits of men and women presented through their responses to the events that entangle them, it has a place alongside the great novels of modern Europe. It demands patience of the reader; although it starts off with a couple of resounding scandals, including a Queen-Mother's affair with a handsome Icelander, before plunging into disputes over property, and who stole the hay, and wise advice that is never followed. (There are certain resemblances to Westerns; including the problem of subsistence in an unforgiving environment, and the critical importance of a reputation.)

Magnus Magnussson and Hermann Palsson made the decision to give a plain-language version, which I think has stood up well for over forty years (first published 1960). On my first reading I found the Introduction, Genealogical Tables, Glossary of Proper Names, Note on Chronology, and maps, all very useful. It has been supplanted in the Penguin Classics list by a new translation by Robert Cook, but I hope that this older version will continue to remain available. (Penguin sometimes has two, or even three, translations of a given work in circulation.)

"Njal's Saga" is, like several others, a long account of cascading disputes between farmers, and the resulting fights and lawsuits, broken up with voyages and adventures in Viking-Age Europe. (There are a great many shorter ones on the same basic pattern, generally less complex and diverse.) "Njala" includes a famous account of the official conversion of Iceland to Christianity, and a description of the Battle of Clontarf in Ireland, just over a decade later -- both apparently drawn from pre-existing accounts, and both inserted into the sequence of events quite naturally, although possibly with some violence to chronology.

The co-translators' most dramatic departure from the Icelandic text was the decision to relegate most genealogical descriptions of characters to footnotes. Many chapters begin something like "There was a man named A who lived at B. He was the son of C, son of D, son of E, who was the first who came to B, and he was the son of F, son of G, the kinsman of ..." Those of us who persist in reading the major sagas will soon learn to decipher such passages to mean either, "A came from a famous family, and would have many allies in a dispute," or "A was a complete nobody, whose most notable ancestors were famed only for being violent and unreasonable." Until then, these paragraph-long descriptions are just a jumble of names -- there is a "Monty Python" routine based on that impression, which is very, very funny if you know the sagas; and, I am told, amusing anyway if you don't.

"Njala" has had a long series of translations from its original Old Icelandic into other languages -- there is a whole book on its "reception" into other literatures, "The Rewriting of Njals Saga: Translation, Ideology, and Icelandic Sagas," by Jon Karl Helgason. And it bulks large in Andrew Wawn's "The Vikings and the Victorians,' because it received a magnificent first translation into English, by George Webbe Dasent, "The Story of Burnt Njal, or, Life in Iceland at the End of the Tenth Century," pubished in 1861. Dasent had begun work in 1843, but the whole subject was still so unfamiliar that Dasent, probably wisely, spent a good part of the two-volume first edition just explaining medieval Iceland to his readers. This material was dumped in later, one-volume editions of Dasent's translation, including the Everyman's Library reprint of 1911, which got a new introduction and select bibliography by E.O.G. Turville-Petre in 1957. It was available in paperback in the 1970s, in competition with the Penguin Classics translation.

Dasent's "Burnt Njal" has many merits, even today. Unfortunately, between Dasent's decision to imitate the Icelandic vocabulary and sentences, and changes in English since the 1850s, many will find his prose indigestible; and the 1772 edition of the saga he was using is now *very* obsolete. For those who want a look, there is an HTML edition on-line; the translator's name is there given as DaSent. Modern readers can turn to Jesse Byock's "Viking Age Iceland" for an equivalent of Dasent's introduction and appendices, with their maps and diagrams; it is much more readable, as well as much more reliable. And I would certainly make the suggestion of Magnusson and Palsson as a better place to start with Njal and his associates.

Another alternative is the American-Scandinavian Foundation's 1955 "Njal's Saga," translated by Carl F. Bayerschmidt and Lee M. Hollander. For American readers it had the slight advantage of not being quite so British in tone as the Penguin translation (let alone the mid-Victorian Dasent!); but it seems to have been available in recent years only in a 1998 paperback from a British publisher, in the "Wordsworth Classics of World Literature" series, with a new introduction by Thorsteinn Gylfason. It too has maps, family trees, and notes.

There is a substantial critical literature on "Njal's Saga," some of it in English. Richard F. Allen's old "Fire and Iron: Critical Approaches to Njals Saga" is very literary in approach. Jesse Byock's "Feud in the Icelandic Saga," which argues that behavior in the sagas reflects real social patterns, has thirty pages on this saga (Chapter 9, "Two Sets of Feud Chains"), which I think are brilliant; but probably most helpful to those who already know the story, and can appreciate how he makes connections between scattered-looking events.

For those who find "Njala" a bit too long to start with, there are variety of other sagas in excellent translations -- and also some not-so-good translations. Going strictly by the sagas themselves, other good places to start would be "Laxdaela Saga," which shares some important characters, scenes and events with "Njala," "Grettir's Saga," the story of a famous outlaw, with some wonderful accounts of battles with supernatural as well as human enemies; and "Egil's Saga" (Egils Saga Skallagrimssonar; "Egla" for short), which is closer to the popular idea of an Icelandic saga. The hero is a warrior-poet, brilliant, bad-tempered, and remarkably ugly; he takes after his grandfather, who was nicknamed "Evening-Wolf," and suspected of being a shape-shifter, and Egil spends much of his time on Viking adventures abroad, instead of tending the flocks ... .

Incidentally, "Njala," "Laxdaela," and "Egla" all contribute, along with the master-narrative of Snorri Sturluson's "Heimskringla" (a long saga-history of the Kings of Norway) to the late Poul Anderson's fine historical novel, "Mother of Kings," which is another approach to the world of the sagas.

376 pages. This saga spans that period that many of the saga's do, skirting around the year 1000 when Christianity was adopted in Iceland by decree. Starting before this transition, the saga tells the story of a beautiful yet spiteful woman, Hallgerd, whose nature begins a feud that burns for several decades between the Sigfussons and Njalssons. Njal himself being a man of law who has a close friendship with Gunnar (Hallgerd's husband) and finds himself caught up in events as they develop. I have read that this is the most highly regarded of Icelandic saga literature. At least a hundred pages more than other sagas, it verges on straining the limits of saga readability. The first quarter is paced as well as any saga, but it seemed to get sluggish in the second quarter, regaining its former pace in the third quarter, and showing the best in saga writing only into the last quarter of the book. It may not be right reading for you unless you are entranced by saga reading, or possibly would make good reading for lawyers due to its portrayal of early law. Snorri the Priest, who appears in this saga, factors highly in Eyrbyggja Saga. As usual with Penguin, they include geneologies of the characters involved, a glossary of names (very helpful) and two maps of Iceland.

In addition to what other reviewers have added, let me state that the main plot of this saga is the attempt of the prescient Njal to save his family from the destruction that he forsees in the future by creating political and marriage alliances with other powerful families. In doing so, Njal innevitably draws more and more of Iceland into the web of his own fate, whose strands finally peter out after the Battle of Clontarf in Ireland (c.1014 ?).

Although some detractors criticize the style,the reader must understand that Njal's Saga is written in typical saga style with stock characters and situations. This is NOT a modern-day novel; it is written in an idiomatic style. Conversation and narrative contain the dry wit, excellent understatement and brevity that characterizes saga style. Strict Norse traditions of hospitality (even to enemies)and the strong relationships of foster ties are also peculiar to these types of sagas.

After reading Njal's Saga, one can come away not only with a great story, but also keen insights into Norse culture and tradition. I highly recommend it!

Of the four Icelandic Sagas I own and have read: Egil's Saga, Laxdaela Saga, Eyrbyggja Saga and this, Njal's Saga; Njal's Saga remains my favorite. It's different from the other Sagas that I've read in that it appeared to me to be surprisingly dramatized, especially moreso than the other Sagas. I found this discouraging at first, questioning the accuracy of the events told within, but nonetheless, I put these thoughts aside and decided I would simply read and appreciate the book for what it was, and in the end I was entirely pleased with it. Not only is it my own personal favorite Icelandic saga, I've found it to creep into a position of being one of my favorite texts of all time. I don't, however, recommend it to newcomers to this style of literature. This was the last of the four sagas that I read, reserving it because it seemed to me when perusing each book that it would be the best of them, and I turned out to be right in my predictions. There is a particularly large amount of events in the book held around the form of law and establishment at the time, which makes it quite heavy for someone who isn't fully understanding of these people or their society. For this reason, I would suggest Eyrbyggja Saga for starters, as it is a short and easily understandable piece of writing. Reserve Njal's Saga for when you are in a position to fully appreciate it, then you won't be sorry.

How is it that a work so rich and powerful is so little known by literate, well-educated people? Is it that we are programmed to reject everything outside our ultra-narrow Western European/North American bandwidth?

I first read this translation of NJALS SAGA over 10 years ago. The story set off a series of reactions in me such that, this year, I am planning to visit the sites where the story of Njall, Flossi, and Gunnar actually took place a millenium ago. (Archaeologists have located a burned-out farmstead at the site of the famous conflagration that dates back to that time.)

The story of Njall's restraint, and his preference to die with his family in a fire set by his enemies rather than to perpetuate a feud, has a resonance in our own times: Consider the Yugoslavia of Milosovich, or the genocides between the Tutsi and the Hutu in Central Africa. Even Njall's enemies have to be goaded into committing atrocity: One character implies that Flossi, the arsonist, is weak because he has allowed himself to be sexually used by the Svinafell troll. Times haven't changed much.

The saga contains scenes of great beauty. Gunnar of Hlidarendi, outlawed by the Althing and forced to flee for his life, takes one backward look. "How fair the slopes are!" he exclaims, and then decides to stay. Under attack by his enemies, he asks his wife for a length of her hair when his bowstring breaks. The "thief-eyed" Hallgerd Long-Legs refuses because he had slapped her once, and so he goes to his doom muttering that each person chooses his or her fame. True to his prophecy, Hallgerd is the ultimate type of the treacherous and spiteful wife.

We seem to think of Icelanders as the scions of degenerate Vikings who never amounted to much. And yet they created a republic in A.D. 870 (!!) and gave birth to a literature that will be read and loved by those who have the mind and heart to appreciate them long after most mass-produced "classics" are hooted off the world stage.

Njal's saga unfolds right around the end of the first millenium. As related in the story, Christianity emerges (temporarily?) victorious over paganism, through both popular acclaim and force of arms. A legal system exists through a system of courts and the republican instrument of the Althing, the functioning of either wholly dependent on the law speakers, who have in memory the juridical code. Of these, we find Njal, a respected farmer who manifests the genteel attributes of fairness and generosity in a still rough hewn world. Njal's demise comes through loyalty to both friends and his own sometimes violent offspring, and through loopholes in a legal system which, though advanced for its time, still admits to the possibility of blood feud and revenge as an alternative to the process of law. It is the ironic turn of events, whereby otherwise sensible people are drawn into destruction, which occupies much of Snorri Sturluson's attention, and sets this book out from other such literature. The slow, subtle progression of events to their horrific conclusion may be deceptive to some, but the subplots and riveting feats of bravado hold one's attention. It is a powerful story, bereft of the spin and agenda that plague modern-day treatments of the era.

Magnus Magnusson deserves praise for capturing much of the wry, understated humor that pervades the saga. The poignancy of feeling is especially compelling, as when Gunnar looks upon his native hills and decides at once to defy his banishment. One cannot do other than to go forward in the story with this noble man.

Having read one other translation of 'The Story of Burnt Njal,' I believe that Magnusson has sacrificed some of the lyricism to spin a more coherent story line. Still, my understanding of this classic is based mostly upon his rendition of the text, and his annotation, while burdensome to the casual reader, imparts a scholarly legitimacy. Magnus Magnusson recreates this distant age and locale with an entertaining and enlightening perspective.

Njals saga is one of the great works of world literature, worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as the Iliad, King Lear, the Divine Comedy, and Don Quixote. It toughminded, witty, socially and politically astute and has the best tough guy in all literature, even beating out Achilles and Beowulf: Skarphedin Njalsson. For some inexplicable reason Penguin retired this brilliant, not to be surpassed, translation of Magnus Magnusson with a rather lame effort with nothing to recommend it. To get the real feel for this saga, read the Magnusson translation.

It's an interesting type of narrative, with lots of action and very little internal analysis. It's a fast read, but worth re-reading, since the characters' motivations often take some thought to understand. The story is grim and pessimistic: Njal's efforts to help his friends and family escape their "fate" become less and less successful as the saga goes on, and ultimately he resigns himself to his fate and is burnt alive in his house. Njal is clever, a legal expert, and a man of peace (a _beardless_ man): he symbolises the restraining influence of intellect and law over his bearded and violent contemporaries. As the saga develops, we see both Njal and the Icelandic legal system ageing and becoming less effective. After his death, things get even worse: the legal "trial" of the Burning of Njal turns into a pitched battle, and after that Njal's son-in-law (who escaped from the burning house) goes on a revenge spree that ends only when it runs completely out of steam.

Several of the incidents involve magic, but it's treated in a matter-of-fact way, as just another of the things that happen to normal people. Obviously, you aren't going to increase your appreciation of the story by wondering whether the events could actually have happened.

I like this edition. The translation is readable, and the introduction and notes are helpful, even if they could have been more concise. The genealogies have been relegated to the footnotes, which I think is an excellent idea.

Although most of us have heard of the Greek epics and, in particular, the Illiad and Odyssey (the two most renowned epics in the western world), we may have far less familiarity with the literary tradition of the old Norse folk who inhabited the lands about the Baltic and North Atlantic in early medieval times. Of course, we've heard about the vikings, coastal pirates and fighters who sprang from these folk, and about their wide-ranging adventures. Yet we are not nearly so familiar with the Norse literary tradition which chronicled the events of the viking world and which is, in some ways, as compelling and profound as the literature of the ancient Greeks we so revere today.

Certainly the Norse saga tradition is as powerful, reflecting stories handed down orally for generations which were finally committed to written form in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Among these works, Njal's Saga may well be the best of the lot. Like all sagas it is a prose epic (as opposed to the poetic form of the Illiad and its kind), but still possessing a uniquely poetic rhythm and perspective which only the Norse folk had to offer. It is a somewhat bleak tale of several generations of Icelandic families whose men and women lived and feuded in the ninth through eleventh centuries on the remote island of Iceland, itself only settled by fleeing Norse farmers and land holders from about 860 AD onward. Here, in Njal's Saga, is a tale of hard men in a harsh land who push and pull at one another until the only recourse, in their grim pioneering culture, is the blood-feud. And, once unleashed, the blood-flow is literally unstoppable as noble and not so noble heroes cut one another down until, at last, one of the most respected of all the Icelanders is himself burned alive, with most of his kinsmen, in one of the retaliatory raids which arise from the ongoing feuds. This despite the realization on the part of the burners that what they are about to do will have grim and far reaching implications. Yet they cannot pull back, for honor's sake, and must suffer the consequences which they have wittingly unleashed as a vast well-spring of revenge and justice arises to overwhelm the burners. In the end it is the wronged viking Kari who single-mindedly pursues and hunts his foes to the far corners of the earth, affording them no peace as he seeks re-payment for loss of kin, until even he is spent.

This, like most sagas, is a tale of many strands and several generations and so it partakes of the literary conventions of its type -- conventions which make it a little harder on the modern reader than some would like. There are extensive character genealogies (of little interest to most of us today) and very limited descriptive text (something else some of us may miss). There is also a decided lack of the subjective point of view or of interior monologue, i.e., we never get inside these characters' heads to see things as they see them. Indeed, as in Hemingway at his sharpest, we must 'see' the characters for what they are, based on what they do and say alone. The entire conceit of the sagas is that they are oral tales, reflecting only what people saw and remembered of the events recounted, and so they are written thus.

But at their best, they are a keen, if slightly aged and clouded, lense through which we may observe the doings of real people who are driven, much as we are today, by the same need for fame and fortune which infects the human soul in every generation. Insofar as these tales, and Njal's Saga in particular, are windows into these matters they are universal in their unraveling of human motivations. And they are great adventure besides. Njal's Saga, especially, has it all including feuds and viking adventure and, in the end, a redeeming sense of human frailty and reconciliation . . . and justice in the eyes of heaven.

If you like the sagas as much as I do, you may want to also try some of the modern novels which are based, in varying degrees, on this literary tradition. A few good ones include: THE GOLDEN WARRIOR by Hope Muntz (the best of the lot, I think); STYRBIORN THE STRONG by E. R. Eddison; ERIC BRIGHTEYES by H. Rider Haggard; THE GREENLANDERS by Jane Smiley; TWO RAVENS by Cecelia Holland, GUNNAR'S DAUGHTER by Sigrid Undset; and here's one I did: THE KING OF VINLAND'S SAGA (but you have to judge the merits of this one as it's not my place to offer an opinion). All of these can be found on-line and quite a few others besides.

SWM
author of The King of Vinland's Saga