The Saga of Grettir the Strong

May 2005 · Penguin UK

About this ebook

Composed at the end of the fourteenth century by an unknown author, The Saga of Grettir the Strong is one of the last great Icelandic sagas. It relates the tale of Grettir, an eleventh-century warrior struggling to hold on to the values of a heroic age becoming eclipsed by Christianity and a more pastoral lifestyle. Unable to settle into a community of farmers, Grettir becomes the aggressive scourge of both honest men and evil monsters - until, following a battle with the sinister ghost Glam, he is cursed to endure a life of tortured loneliness away from civilisation, fighting giants, trolls and berserks. A mesmerising combination of pagan ideals and Christian faith, this is a profoundly moving conclusion to the Golden Age of the saga writing.

About the author

Bernard Scudder lives in Reykjavík as a full-time translator. His translations encompass sagas, ancient and modern poetry, and leading contemporary novels and plays. In 1998 two novels in his translation were short-listed for the European Union's Aristeon Literary Prize.

Ornólfur Thorsson was the editor of the World of the Sagas project which produced the multi-volume Sagas of Icelanders in Iceland in 1997.


Bernard Scudder lives in Reykjavík as a full-time translator. His translations encompass sagas, ancient and modern poetry, and leading contemporary novels and plays. In 1998 two novels in his translation were short-listed for the European Union's Aristeon Literary Prize.
Örnólfur Thorsson was the editor of the World of the Sagas project which produced the multi-volume Sagas of Icelanders in Iceland in 1997.