Egil’s Saga

Egil’s Saga is the 10th-century Nordic equivalent of The Iliad and The Odyssey. Translated from the Icelandic with
an introduction, notes and an essay, this is the first time Eddison’s version of this epic heroic saga has been made available as a digital book.

The saga of Egil, son of Grim the Bald, tells the exciting tale of a medieval warrior-poet and his many Viking adventures. Challenged by his ugly appearance and haunted by rumours that his grandfather was a werewolf, Egil devotes himself to Odin, god of kings, warriors and poets, and determines to avenge his father’s exile from Norway. With action ranging across Iceland and Scandinavia down to Scotland and England, Egil’s thrilling encounters include kings, sorcerers, berserkers and outlaws, as the story follows his transformation from youthful savagery to mature wisdom.

Sometimes considered the greatest of the Icelandic sagas, Egil’s Saga is the 10th-century Nordic equivalent of The Iliad and The Odyssey. Eddison’s acclaimed translation, published in 1930, has been long unavailable, and demonstrates the author’s amazing capacity for evocative and erudite language. It reflects the swift dramatic terseness and vivid character-drawing which made the saga style in prose narrative such an enduring model for modern historical and fantasy literature, and his meticulous translation includes elaborate notes and annotations.

Reviews

‘Eddison is unequalled in the vigour, the vividness, and the passionate intensity of his imagining, the brooding sadness that underlies it, and the magnificence of his language – a truly strange and wonderful fantasy world.’ – Ursula K. Le Guin

‘The greatest and most convincing writer of invented worlds that I have read.’ – J.R.R. Tolkien

‘A new literary species, a new rhetoric, a new climate of the imagination.’ – C.S. Lewis

About the author

Eric Rucker Eddison was born in Adel, England, in 1882. His parents encouraged his spirited imagination. Boyhood days spent reading and adventuring in the northern English countryside with his constant companion, Arthur Ransome, provided rich material for his novels. Eddison was twice honoured, receiving the Order of St. Michael and St. George (1924) and the Order of the Bath (1929) for public service with the Board of Trade. His writings include the first complete translation of the Icelandic epic, Egil’s Saga; the novels The Worm Oroboros and Stybiorn the Strong; and the trilogy Zimiamvia, including Mistress of Mistresses, A Fish Dinner in Memison, and the final book, The Mezentian Gate, which was left unfinished when he died suddenly of a stroke in 1945.