The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1973, Side 74

72
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
SUMMER 1973
BOOK REVIEWS
BOOK OF SETTLEMENTS
(Landnamabok)
A translation of the Icelandic saga of
the settlement of Iceland by Herman
Palsson and Paul Edwards. Edited by
Haraldur Bessason and Robert Glen-
enning, University of Manitoba Press,
1972.
Reviewed by Wilhelm Kristjanson.
The Book of Settlements is an excel-
lent readable translation of the Ice-
landic saga that relates the discovery
and settlement of Iceland and 'the em-
ergence of a self-governing Icelandic
nation, about 874-930 A.D.
The principal source of information
about the period is the Icelandic saga,
Landnamabok, compiled in the 12th
and 13th centuries, but based on earlier
records, including information given
by people born in the 10th and 11th
centuries.
The translators, Hermann Palsson
and Paul Edwards, are both of the
University of Edinburgh. Their trans-
lation is characterized by a high order
of scholarship and is at the same time
very readable.
A feature of this Icelandic saga is
the prominence of the names of the
original settlers and numerous gene-
alogies, all of which interested the Ice-
landic people at the time of writing
and down to recent times, but would
today interest chiefly the historically
minded. However, these lists may be
skimmed through at will. The reading
of this book may be compared with
placer mining where one pans the
sand for the grains of gold. There is
in this book a surprising amount of
gold, interesting and valuable histor-
ical material, with a picture of the
people and their way of life, and a
wealth of human interest material.
The saga gives us a glimpse of the
early Christian Irish hermits in Ice-
land, in the 8th century, before the ar-
rival of the Norse. Proceeding to the
permanent settlement, we learn about
the migration, the type of settlers and
the countries of origin, the cause of
their number. The precise location of
each settler in Iceland is shown on
the several -graphic maps at the back
of the book.
The unification of Norway by King
Harold Hair-Fine triggered the exodus

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