The Vinland Sagas (Penguin Classics) | 
 enlarge | Author: Anonymous
Creators: Gisli Sigurosson, Keneva Kunz
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
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Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 221756
Media: Paperback
Pages: 144
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0140447768
Dewey Decimal Number: 970.013
EAN: 9780140447767
ASIN: 0140447768
Publication Date: July 29, 2008
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new book delivered from the UK in 10-14 days.
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Product Description
The all -time bestselling of the sagas in Penguin Classics, IThe Vinland Sagas/I are published here in a vibrant new translation. Consisting of IThe Saga of the Greenlanders/I and IEirik the Red s Saga/I, they chronicle the adventures of Eirik the Red and his son, Leif Eirikson, who explored North America 500 years before Columbus. Famous for being the first-ever descriptions of North America, and written down in the early thirteenth century, they recount the Icelandic settlement of Greenland by Eirik the Red, the chance discovery by seafaring adventurers of a mysterious new land, and Eirik s son Leif the Lucky s perilous voyages to explore it.
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| Customer Reviews:
Excellent new edition August 7, 2008
Jordan M. Poss (Georgia, United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is the second edition of The Vinland Sagas that I've purchased from the Penguin Classics series. The first, published a few decades ago, was adequate, but this new edition is well worth having an extra copy around. These translations, by Keneva Kunz, are fast-paced, clear, and easy to read. br / br /The two sagas included here are The Saga of the Greenlanders and The Saga of Eirik the Red. Both tell of the Norse discovery of and attempts (there were more than one) to settle in North America. They differ in focus and emphasis, but tell essentially the same stories. First, Eirik the Red settled himself in Greenland. Then, when Norse sailors were blown off course and sighted more land even farther west, Eirik's son Leif decided to check it out for himself. Leif, later known as "the Lucky" after rescuing wrecked sailors, discovered a land where wild grapes and "self-sown wheat" grew and named it Vinland. He and others explored up and down the coast of Canada and New England, perhaps as far south as Manhattan. They settled in several places all along the coast and even traded with the natives. Then things turned sour. br / br /The Vikings, many are shocked to learn, actually fought wars with the Indians. Of course, the Norse settlers won handily in every engagement, but the fighting was enough to convince them that the sheer numbers of the natives would eventually wear them down, and after several years of exploration, settlement, and farming, they packed up and returned to Iceland and Greenland. But Vinland was never forgotten. br / br /The book is short, and the sagas even shorter--the two combined take up only 48 pages in this edition. But the book is rounded out with an informative--if sometimes dry--introduction and notes by Gisli Sigurdsson. Sigurdsson mentions several instances from later records in which people were said to have sailed to Vinland, including a man cutting lumber who returned from his trip and a bishop who did not. Also included are illustrations and diagrams of Icelandic farms and Norse ships that have been lifted from the Sagas of Icelanders collection. br / br /Perhaps the most helpful appendix in the book is the map section. There are six pages of maps and a two-page table setting out scholars' guesses on the locations of places in the sagas. For example, is Vinland actually Newfoundland? Or perhaps Prince Edward Island? The maps themselves are labeled according to Sigurdsson's suggestions, which certainly helps while reading the sagas. br / br /But even if you aren't going to look at the introduction or back matter, the sagas themselves are well worth reading. And of course, if you are interested in learning more about Leif the Lucky and the New World's first European settlers, this edition of the Vinland Sagas, with its strong translation and good supplementary material, is the one to have. br / br /Highly recommended.
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