Johnston, George (translator)

Toronto. 1963. J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd./University of Toronto Press. 1st Canadian Edition. A Few Penned Notes on Page 49, Otherwise Very Good.No Dustjacket. Translated from the Icelandic by George Johnston. Notes & An Essays On The Saga Of Gisli by Peter Foote. 146 pages. hardcover. keywords: Literature Ireland Translated Saga. FROM THE PUBLISHER - The Saga of Gisli was written early in the thirteenth century. It offers an imaginative reconstruction of the story of a man and his family who came to Iceland from Norway about A.D. 950. Soon after 960 Gisli, the central figure, was outlawed for killing his brother-in-law, and then, for thirteen years or more, he lived in hiding in remote parts of the northwest of Iceland until he was finally caught and killed by his enemies. Around this historical core the author has spun a web of conflicting passions - love, hate and jealousy between man and wife, brother and sister, brother-in-law - intricate emotional bonds which are here seen ironically patterned against a background of inevitable fate. Gisli, the hero, is portrayed not only as a man of strength and courage but also as a poet and dreamer, tormented in his outlawry by nightmarish visions which seem gradually to sap his will to resist. The author's probing into the emotional depths of his characters, the superbly effective architecture of his narrative leading to the central climax, his sense of the dramatic, and his cool, compelling style, all combine to make this one of the most memorable of all the Icelandic sagas. The saga is now presented, first and foremost as an outstanding piece of medieval literature, in a new translation by Professor George Johnston of Carleton University, Ottawa. In a style which in no way affects the quaint or archaic he seeks to give the English reader an awareness of the movement and texture of the Icelandic original. The translation is followed by some notes, lively and informative, which should benefit both the reader for pleasure and the serious student. ILLUSTRATED WITH MAPS. inventory #4900