(Vápnfirðinga Saga)
A New English Translation with Old Norse Text, Vocabulary, and Maps
The Saga of the People of Weapon’s Fjord (Vápnfirðinga Saga) is a masterpiece of saga telling. It recounts blood feud in Iceland during the Viking Age and takes the reader deep into struggles for power and honor in Iceland’s East Fjords. Two young chieftains begin as inseparable friends. As they mature, however, they slide into bitter competition for regional dominance. The contest continues into the next generation, entangling the chieftains’ two sons and spreading across Iceland’s northern and eastern regions. As one learns, honor and friendship have many interpretations but revenge is mostly expected.
This new translation is a bilingual edition. It offers all the tools necessary to read a major Icelandic saga in both English and the original Old Norse. Each Old Norse saga chapter has its own specific vocabulary, so that the reader is freed from dependence on separate dictionaries. Notes and discussions explain language, geography, law, and society. An extensive series of maps, freshly drawn for this edition, offer an accurate picture of the landscape. After completing theSaga of the People of Weapon’s Fjord, you will be equipped to read any of Iceland’s longer sagas.
About the Translators of the Tale of Thorstein Staff-Struck:
Jesse Byock is distinguished research professor of Old Norse and Medieval Scandinavian at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), specializing in the study of the Viking World, its sagas, history, and archaeology. As an archaeologist, he is a professor at the UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology. Jesse earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University after studying in France, Iceland, and Sweden. In Iceland, he directs the Mosfell Archaeological Project (MAP) and is a professor at the University of Iceland (Háskóli Íslands) in the Department of History and the Programs of Medieval Icelandic and Viking Studies. He is the author ofViking Age Iceland and books, articles, and saga translations.
Randall Gordon is a specialist in historical linguistics of Celtic and Germanic Languages, with concentrations on the development and grammar of Old Norse and Old Irish. He received his Ph.D. inIndo-European Studies from UCLA.
Jules William Press publishes a range of books about the Viking Age. Its series of Old Norse primers, grammars, texts, studies, and audio pronunciation albums answer the needs of the modern student, instructor, and self-learner. The books and materials are purposely affordable, and in many instances with free Answer Keys on our website, oldnorse.org. JWP also publishes a series of novels, eBooks, and audio books as well as archaeological reports about the Viking Age.
Everything you need to Learn Old Norse.
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