Books with title The Story of Grettir the Strong

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.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

"The Story of Grettir the Strong" by Anonymous (translated by Eiríkr Magnússon, William Morris). Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

“Grettir the Strong, Grettir the Outlaw, one of the heroes of his race, was born, men say, in the year 997, at Biarg in Iceland. A man of great heart and high spirit was he, yet unlucky, doomed to a sad end. His foes were many and his misfortunes great, but he lived like a man, and like a man he died.” Thus begins this acclaimed version for young people of a great Icelandic saga. Grettir, living at the dawn of Christianity’s coming to Iceland, had a gift of “ridding lands of their pests.” Heathen pests: trolls, ghosts, sorcerers, to be sure; and worse were the self-serving men who found strong Grettir in their way. Unjustly accused, Grettir is driven to seek help at the Althing, Iceland’s court of justice. There, where cunning men manage to force the law in their favor, he will be required to accept a sentence of 20 years’ outlawry. Nevertheless, in those twenty years outside the boundaries of society, Grettir will remain a man true to his word, doing deeds to make men marvel, living in sorrow and troubles and yet undaunted in spirit. Is Grettir a figure of fantasy? Author Allen French tells us in his Preface: “In spite of many supernatural incidents [found in the story] Grettir was doubtless a real man...a grand and tragic character.” All admirers of Nordic tales will value this exceptional retelling by the author of The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow.

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.

Excerpt from The Story of Grettir the StrongValuable as are the classic tales, there is to be drawn from them no such lesson of manliness as the north ern stories teach. If I wished a lad to learn from his reading the quality of steadfast courage, I would put into his hands these two Icelandic sagas, with the Morte d'arthur and even the Niebelungen Lied, rather than the Iliad, the Odyssey, or the zeneid. There is only one book whose tales surpass these north ern stories in teaching the lesson of manly self - dependence, and that book is the Bible.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The legendary Grettir was the strongest man in Iceland, cursed with misfortune but determined to make his own destiny In Iceland’s history, many men stand out for their courage and talent, but one man stands taller than the rest. When young Grettir is outlawed from Iceland after killing a man in self-defense, he makes a name for himself in Norway for his heroic deeds. But he goes one step too far, and in trying to rid a town from an evil spirit terrorizing the land, he is cursed to wander alone as an outlaw for the rest of his days. At first Grettir scoffs at the curse, but it soon becomes clear that no matter where he goes, misfortune follows him by day and the spirit’s eyes follow him by night. Grettir is determined to rise above his fate, and stories of his strength still spread across the land. This is the tale of the rise and fall of the strongest, bravest, and unluckiest man in Iceland.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

We do not feel able to take in hand the wide subject of the Sagas of Iceland within the limits of a Preface; therefore we have only to say that we put forward this volume as the translation of an old story founded on facts, full of dramatic interest, and setting before people’s eyes pictures of the life and manners of an interesting race of men near akin to ourselves.