SOURCE: Arent, A. Margaret. Introduction to The Laxdoela Saga, translated by A. Margaret Arent, pp. xv-xlii. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1964.

In the following excerpt from her introduction to her English translation of the Laxdaela Saga, Arent probes the work's literary contexts, authorship, manuscript history, and sources, then concludes by providing an overview of its plot, structure, and style.

Literary Background

With the Christianization of Iceland (a.d. 1000), a new era in the life and letters of the nation can be said to have begun, although the conversion was not marked by any great upheaval, politically or culturally. The old shaded off into the new and blended imperceptibly with it. The Church, which gradually brought the culture of southern Europe to Iceland, established schools, and taught the art of writing, did not squelch indigenous traditions, but rather served as the stimulus under which Icelandic letters developed to their...