From: evc@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Edward Van Cura)
Newsgroups: alt.horror
Subject: Re: Der Vampyr
Date: 3 Sep 92 03:15:14 GMT


>ov@saturn.cs.swin.OZ.AU (Owen Veenstra)
>A truly incredable list!  But, what is the mysterious *Grettir's Saga*
>that you refernece??  Could you do me the favour of posting the author of
>this book, plus ISBN number to either me (see email below), or the net.

Greetings Owen!
My translation is:

Grettir's Saga                        ,
translated by Denton Fox and Hermann Palsson
University of Toronto Press
1974, rep. 1977,1981,1985,1988,1990
ISBN (cloth) 0-8020-1925-0
ISBN (paper) 0-8020-6165-6
It was originally written about 1325 C.E. by an unknown author.

The back cover reads:

***begin quote***
Profound and intriguing, *Grettir's Saga* is the last of the great
Icelandic sagas. It tells of the life and death of Grettir, a great
rebel, individualist, and romantic hero viewed unromantically. Grettir
spends his childhood violently defying authority: as a youth of
sixteen he kills a man and is outlawed; all the rest of his life he
devotes, with remarkable composure, to fighting more and more
formidable enemies. He pits himself against bears, berserks, wraiths,
trolls, and finally, it seems, the whole population of Iceland. Yet he
is not a bloodthirsty killer, but only a man who is totally unwilling
to compromise. As a result of his desire for freedom, he becomes
increasingly isolated, although he wishes to live in society, and
indeed can hardly bear solitude. Driven back and forth from Iceland to
Norway, harried around Iceland, he continually flees subjection and
confinement only to find a perilous freedom beset both by the external
hazards of a new land and by the internal hazards of loneliness and
pride. He escapes to freedom and finds destruction. He finally meets
his death in his last refuge on top of an unscalable island near the
northern tip of Iceland.

Grettir's Saga has several themes. One of them is the conflict between
the Christian world and the survival of the pagan world, as sorcery or
heroic pride; the other is the conflict between man's desire for
individual freedom and the restrictive bond imposed by society.
*** end of quote***

The book includes 12 pictures of places in Iceland referenced in the
Saga (ie. where Grettir was born/died and where he fought the
revenant). At the end of the book, there are 3 maps and an index of
proper names.

The scenes with the sorceress are very informative for those who would
dare to revive the Old Ways of Rune Magic. This is true source material.
Of course, the scenes with the Undead (Glam) and the Troll provide a 
glimpse into the Norse concept of the so-called "supernatural" world. 
To the Icelanders around the year 1000 CE, the Undead did walk and trolls
were a real danger. This was not "supernatural" to the ancient ones,
it was the natural real world.

>Have you, by any chance, found any of the references sited and actually
>looked through them??  If you have, of what standart are they?  Are they
>a scientific presentation of data + theorems , or guesswork, or whatever.

At present, my attentions are directed elsewhere, but within 2 years,
I might once again delve into the mysteries of the Undead. 

Wyrd Dreams be with you,

Thorfinn Einarsson

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"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process 
 he does not become a monster. And when you look into an abyss, 
 the abyss looks into you."  --- Nietzsche
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