This appears to be part of what should be a two-volume compilation of the later Icelandic commonwealth sagas and history. Unfortunately the attempts to anglicize the patrynomics results in very confusing and sometimes totally incorrect family relationships.
The tendency to convert feminine descendant names such as Thurid Starrisdottir to "...Thurid Starri's daughter..." (Hvamm-Sturla Saga, ch.1) makes for confusing reading. And in chapter 3, "Einar...was married to Snorri's syster [sic] Sigrid Kalf's daughter..." is totally incorrect. To elaborate here, the sister of Snorri (Kalfsson) could be misunderstood as the daughter of someone named Sigrid Kalf when instead she was Snorri's sibling and named Sigrid Kalfsdottir.
This purposeful editorial shortcoming makes the already almost overwhelming interrelationships and extensive family ties that much more difficult, particularly for readers new to the Icelandic literature. It therefore also does a discredit to Ms. McGrew, a known scholar and translator of the sagas.
Sadly, affordable alternative English versions of Sturlunga Saga make this one of the few choices available. Some others, also available through Amazon and other online sellers, are sometimes incorrectly designated as being in English when in fact only the extensive front and back matter are in English while the sagas themselves are in old Norse/Icelandic.
I would advise anyone new to this body of writing to develop an understanding of the patronymic naming by first starting with the other sagas (
The Sagas of Icelanders: Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition (World of the Sagas)
,
The Vinland Sagas (Penguin Classics)
, etc.). This would help prepare the reader to "read around" the editorial shortcomings in this edition.
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