THE HIES OPEN LIBRARY
Eiríkr Magnússon & William Morris, trans. • 1900
Category: PRIMARY SOURCE
The Story of Grettir the Strong is an English translation of Grettis saga, an Icelandic saga centered on the life of Grettir Ásmundarson. The narrative follows Grettir through family relationships, voyages, conflicts, acts of strength and courage, outlawry, isolation, and encounters with both human and supernatural opponents.
The saga provides important material for the study of Icelandic society, law, outlawry, reputation, kinship, courage, adversity, supernatural tradition, and the complex relationship between the individual and the community.
This Open Library entry uses the English translation by Eiríkr Magnússon and William Morris. The Project Gutenberg text reproduces the 1900 edition of their translation.
Magnússon and Morris produced an influential nineteenth-century English rendering of the Icelandic saga. As with other historical translations and scholarship in the HIES Open Library, this edition should be read critically and in conversation with later scholarship and additional translations.
Icelandic Saga
Law & Outlawry
Honor & Reputation
Kinship & Community
Courage & Adversity
Supernatural Tradition
Individual & Society
Cultural Memory
The Story of Grettir the Strong is an important source for the study of saga literature, Icelandic society, law, outlawry, reputation, supernatural tradition, and cultural memory at Hákonarætt Institute of Eddic Studies.
It is especially relevant to courses addressing saga literature, Old Norse history and society, law and social order, honor and reputation, conflict, cultural memory, and the interpretation of narrative sources.
Inclusion in the Open Library does not mean that every chapter or section is assigned in every HIES course. Specific required readings are identified within individual courses on the HIES Learning Platform.
Title: The Story of Grettir the Strong
Original Work: Grettis saga
Translators: Eiríkr Magnússon & William Morris
Edition Used: 1900 edition
Original Translation Publication: 1869
Resource Type: Primary Source / Translation
Language: English