Hrolf Kraki's Saga in Eirik the Red and Other Icelandic Sagas may be recommended to sword-and-sorcery fanatics, because I don't know if there's a medieval work that's closer in style to that kind of pulp fantasy. (There are one or two other translations in print, but I refer to the one I've read three times now.)

Grettir's Saga is one of the Sagas of Icelanders, while Hrolf Kraki is a Saga of Times Past, and so lacks the historical dimension, the emphasis on feud and character, of the other. It seems to be basically just a fast-moving, imaginative adventure. Odin appears in it. His comic book demeanor, as the wise "All-Father," is absent here as elsewhere in medieval sources. Here he is a one-eyed evil spirit whom one of King Hrolf's champions longs to thrash -- for, yes, this saga is about Hrolf's champions and lacks a focus on one protagonist.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 31 Mar 23 | 12:44PM by Dale Nelson.

I've watched some of the video about Egil's Saga here, and thought I'd mention it to those interested. I'm not quite sure what the speaker is doing with the pronunciation of some names, but his qualifications are better than mine. The landscapes, though, are impressive.

[www.youtube.com]