Feud in the Icelandic Saga - by Jesse L Byock (Paperback)

About the Book

Byock sees the crucial element in the origin of the Icelandic sagas not as the introduction of writing or the impact of literary borrowings from the continent but the subject of the tales themselves - feud. This simple thesis is developed into a thorough examination of Icelandic society and feud, and of the narrative technique of recounting it.

Book Synopsis

Feud stands at the core of the Old Icelandic sagas. Jesse Byock shows how the dominant concern of medieval Icelandic society-the channeling of violence into accepted patterns of feud and the regulation of conflict-is reflected in the narrative of the family sagas and the Sturlunga saga compilation. This comprehensive study of narrative structure demonstrates that the sagas are complex expressions of medieval social thought.

Review Quotes

"Byock's scholarly ambitions are boldly imaginative and on the cutting edge of the human sciences."--"Journal of American Folklore

About the Author

Jesse Byock is Professor of Old Norse and Scandinavian Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and author of Medieval Iceland (California, 1988) and translator of The Saga of the Volsungs (California, 1990).