SAGA  

The saga, the most significant contribution of ICELANDIC LITERATURE to world letters, is a medieval prose narrative about legendary heroes. The saga abounds in paradox and irony. Deeds are violent, but the style is subdued. Heroism is praised, but moderation is more highly prized. Much is said of fate, but the complex characters seem to control their own destinies. The world of the saga is pagan, but its sentiment is humanitarian.

The greatest of the sagas is the HEIMSKRINGLA, of SNORRI STURLUSON, but Egil's Saga (c.1220), the story of Iceland's greatest skald, or poet, and his lifelong feud with the Norwegian crown, is similar in style. The more ornate Laxdoela (c.1250) elaborates tragic themes from the poems of the EDDA. In Grettir's Saga (c.1300), which shares motifs with the Old English poem Beowulf, the hero succumbs to pagan sorcery. Njal's Saga (c.1230-90) both glorifies and repudiates the Saga Age (870-1050), which in this genre is less an account of the past than an idealized recreation of the Sturlung Age (1100-1280) during which the poem was composed.

The most important legendary tale is Volsunga Saga (c.1250); a major source for Wagner's Ring, this retelling of parts of the Edda shares motifs and characters with the Nibelungenlied. The earliest and best of the chivalric sagas is Tristram's Saga (1226), a Norwegian prose adaptation of the Tristan of Thomas of Brittany.