Anyone here actually read the sagas?
Just finished Njáls Saga (supposedly the best or one of the best) and I really liked it.
Actually surprised by how dramatic and really what an easy read it was. If the author didn't insist on introducing new characters every other page and naming half of them Þorkell and Þorgeir it reads similarly to a modern exciting novel although more dramatic and more literary than most with its prophecies and parallels, etc.
So if you've read any of them what did you think of it?
also I'm not kidding, there are literally hundreds of named characters pic related
see here
https://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listi_yfir_pers%C3%B3nur_%C3%AD_Nj%C3%A1lu
>>8045448
Is it worth it to read in translation?
>>8045465
If any translation read in english is worthwhile, its germanic>germanic
>>8045448
I have read some of them and have yet to scratch the surface, and I am from Iceland. I agree with the others poster that the major ones are Njála, Gísla Saga, Egils Saga, Laxdaela Saga, Jómsvíkinga (its fucking metal) along with Bósa Saga (naughty stuff), Eiríks Saga (the guy who discovered Vinland and settled Greenland because of the warm period at the time), Gunnlaugs Saga Ormstungu (typical icelandic glory tale) and Víga-Glúms Saga (details the complicated law and honor system of the settlement age, where silver and weapons won court cases).
Others of interest are the sagas of the old norse/scandinavia/germanic tribes like Völsungasaga (related to Nibelungslied), Poetic Edda (also contains stories about the Siegfried/Sigurd and the Völsungs) and Göngu-Hrólfs Saga (Rollo from Vikings) and Ragnars Saga Lodbrókar (Ragnar from Vikings).
Poetic edda should definitely be read but it has to be read slowly as it is mostly in a poetical form and can be very ambigious or tricky at times (of course again, I dont know how it is in english). Prose edda is interesting if you want to get to know the theories and explanations on norse mythology and poetics at that time.
As I said I have yet to read all of these but I gather they are somewhat more simpler in translation since the words that are sometimes used in the icelandic/ modernified old norse are very archaic or completely forgotten. I hope this helps.
>>8045736
I also forgot to mention two major works: Hrafnkels Saga Freysgoda and Grettis Saga. The latter one is very accessible if you are new to the setting of icelandic sagas and highly entertaining. It borders heavily on fantasy but within in some boundaries. Every icelander reads it during his school years and although it lacks the poetry of other stories or the political intrigues of the clan stories it still upholds the traditional values of icelanders at that time (and to somewhat extent todays values) being strength, independence and wits.
>>8045736
>As I said I have yet to read all of these but I gather they are somewhat more simpler in translation since the words that are sometimes used in the icelandic/ modernified old norse are very archaic or completely forgotten. I hope this helps.
Do you mean that you read them in original language or in modern icelandic? I'm thinking about learning icelandic sometime so that i can read them non-translated.
>>8045763
I am reading the sagas in a modernized version of the language closer to the icelandic as it is today. There isnt that much of a difference as the sentence structure is almost the same and words are only somewhat changed (madr = madur = man or ok = og or ór = úr). It is not much of a difference but I tend to keep to the icelandic versions as they are easier to access. In a way this is closer to old norse than modern icelandic as the old language is much simpler. Modern icelandic can be somewhat complicated and especially the high poetry/literature as there are new words made from the old words to represent something without literally taking them from latin/english/french/etc.
I definitely recommend learning icelandic if you have a strong background from a germanic culture as it is probably not so hard to pick up. If you are interested in poetry you will love icelandic as the poetry from the previous ages up to the 20th age is absolutely sublime. However if you want to go for the sagas expect a lot of difficulties as the vocabulary of the sagas and modern icelandic is very different and even when I read the sagas I have to look up a new word every chapter, and I consider myself rather well read in icelandic. The sentence structure is furthermore very archaic and will confuse you later on when you tackle the modern language.
>>8045763
in Iceland the sagas are generally read in the original language with modernized spelling and footnotes
