The Icelandic Sagas: Europe's most important book?

An illuminated 13th century Icelandic Saga manuscript
A 13th-century illuminated Icelandic Saga manuscript. Photograph: Bob Krist/Corbis

Let us begin with a question: which is the best read country in the world? Recent research revealed that in Iceland more books are written, published and sold per person per year than anywhere else on the planet. On a recent trip there I discovered the average Icelander reads four books per year, while one in ten will publish something in their lifetime.

The reasons for this are multifold: long, dark winter nights, a geographical expansiveness that makes trips to, say, the cinema more difficult, a great selection of well-stocked bookshops and a small population, but perhaps more than anything, it is down to Iceland's most famous literary export, The Sagas.

The Sagas remain an intrinsic part of Icelanders' identity to this day, their presence around the country unavoidable. Here is a physical document which traces the lives of its indigenous people during a most tumultuous time, an era when the Vikings were changing the shape of society across Northern Europe and Christianity, Catholicism and Paganism were all fighting it out to be the prevailing belief system.

With events taking place around fifty years either side of 1000AD and written down by a series of authors whose identity can only be guessed at circa 1190 -1320, this collection of stories is, to my mind, the most important European work of the past thousand years. Possibly ever. As tragic as Shakespeare, as colourful as The Canterbury Tales, as enduring as Beowulf, as epic as The Iliad and eminently more readable than The Holy Bible, The Sagas contains some monumental events, not least Norse explorer Leif Ericsson's discovery of a large island he called Vinland and which was later divided into two and renamed Canada and America.

Perhaps more importantly, The Sagas still influence the way we tell and read stories today. Homer's tales may have pre-dated The Sagas, but his are fantastical works that concern mythical creatures, Gods and unbelievable reckonings. Though trolls and ghosts feature, much of The Sagas remains grounded in reality. They tell stories of farmers, families and fighters, lovers, warriors and kings, of betrayal and dilemmas, and which are, for the most part, believable and credible. Women play a strong role too: few characters are as memorable as Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir, believed to be the first person of European ancestry to be born in America. And seemingly hard as nails.


Across a series of stand-alone stories these early authors deliver complex and multi-generational tales in a tone that, despite being born out of a very different philosophical age, makes them surprisingly digestible one millennia on. Most importantly The Sagas created an appetite for a certain type of literature that is evident today in biographies, aga sagas, the popularity of the works of Tolkien, Pratchett and much more besides.

Because ultimately they are great read. How could you not be excited by stories that feature characters who sound like they comprise a Scandinavian death metal band: Audun The Uninspired, Sarcastic Halli, Hkraki Filth and – my favourite - William The Bastard?

Interested parties could do worse that starting with Penguin's 2005 collection. I can think of no better way to see one through the long dark winter ahead.