Faroe-Islander Saga: A New English Translation

by Robert K Painter

This new English translation of the Faroe-Islander Saga (Faereyinga saga) --a great medieval Icelandic saga--tells the story of the first settlers on these wind-swept islands at the edge of the Scandinavian world. Written by an anonymous 13th-century Icelander, the saga centers on the enduring animosity between Sigmundur Brestirsson and Thrandur of Gota, rival chieftains whose bitter disagreements on the introduction of Christianity to the Faroe Islands set the stage for much violence and a feud which then unfolds over generations of their descendants. Making the saga accessible to a wider English readership, the translation is accompanied by a brief introduction, explanatory notes, genealogical and chronological tables, detailed maps and an excerpt from Jomsvikings' Saga which informs missing passages from the Faroe-Islander Saga manuscripts.

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1200

Reviews

[AnneMarie]

shoutout to my 🐐

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly really good - hits all the right marks of the sagas without being overly long. The descriptions of combat are easy to follow, and, as sometimes happens in Nordic sagas, include a scene with a woman fighting as well. A nice look at the history of a remote corner of the world.

[Steven Linden · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Faereyinga Saga really took me by surprise. I admit that I scoffed at the translator's claim in the introduction that it's every bit as good as Njal's Saga, the Laxdaela Saga, or Grettir's Saga -- and no, it's not quite as good as those. But it's close. I was expecting something akin to the Orkneyinga Saga, but it's really much closer in style to the "family sagas".

The translation, unfortunately, was not as good, in my opinion. I was distracted by the translator's frequent non-standard usage (consistently using "lay" where it should be "lie", "had swam", "dwelled" instead of "dwelt", etc.), and some of the attempts to characterize certain people's speech by using dialect or slang rang false. I appreciate that there were footnotes instead of endnotes (much easier to glance at the bottom of the page than to flip back and forth!) but I also found some of those footnotes annoying - points that belong in an analysis of the work, not as interruptions to the text.

[Stephanie Ricker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This saga is written by an Icelandic author, but takes place primarily in the Faroe Islands, with occasional diversions to Norway and Iceland. We joke that we only travel to places with sagas written about them: Iceland (of course), Scotland (Orkney Saga), and now the Faroes, with hopes to make it to Norway some day. In some ways this feels more Icelandic than Faroese, and the translator speculates that the author may have been writing from others' descriptions rather than personal experience. Overall I enjoyed the translation, although some parts were a bit awkward/grammatically weird. The story itself is entertaining and surprisingly twisty, a worthy addition to the saga collection.

[Jake M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid cultural entry point into an otherwise overlooked northern society. It's difficult to know what was lost in translation, but the text retains the straightforward, almost list-like series of events common to sagas of the era. The focus is on the 10th century fictional and historical figures, while the text was composed at the turn of the 13th century by an unknown author. Modern translations would benefit readers by including a pedigree chart to clarify relations, as many individuals share the same or similar names.

[Tom Fordham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great little saga full of all the hallmarks of a classic saga. Intrigue, action and violence, all neatly bundled in the Faroe Islands with a few visits to Norway. This has been a brilliant discovery, it's a lesser known saga for English speakers and while I don't agree with the claim of it matching the classics of Egil and Njal, it is damn good.

[Ginger Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dnf would finish

[Roelofsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 surprisingly long and good for a lesser known saga.