Icelanders' sagas

or family sagas

Class of heroic prose narratives written in the 13th century about the great families who lived in Iceland from 930 to 1030.

They represent the zenith of classical Icelandic saga writing and are far in advance of any contemporary medieval literature in their realism, controlled style, character delineation, and overwhelming tragic dignity. Their artistic unity, length, and complexity suggest that they were written by individual authors rather than composed orally. Justice, not courage, is often the primary virtue, as in the greatest of the family sagas, Njáls saga.

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▪ medieval literature

also called  Family Sagas,  

      the class of heroic prose narratives written 1200–20 about the great families who lived in Iceland from 930 to 1030. Among the most important such works are the Njáls saga and the Gísla saga (qq.v.). The family sagas are a unique contribution to Western literature and are far in advance of any medieval literature in their realism, their controlled, objective style, their powers of character delineation, and their overwhelming tragic dignity. The family sagas represent the highest development of the classical age of Icelandic saga writing. Their artistic unity, length, and complexity have convinced most modern scholars that they are written works by individual authors, although the theory that they were composed orally still has adherents. Their historicity has also been the subject of long debate; but whether or not they are true to history, they are true to the grim ethos of a vanished way of life, which they portray with dramatic power and laconic eloquence.

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