Translation of Icelandic sagas into all Scandinavian languages celebrated in Tartu

Monday, 12 May 2014
Presentation of the publication of the saga translations in Reykjavikis on 28 April 2014. Presentation of the publication of the saga translations in Reykjavikis on 28 April 2014.

The Nordic ministers of culture, translators, literature researchers and writers celebrated the end of seven years of painstaking work – a collection of 40 Icelandic sagas being published in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish simultaneously for the first time ever. The publication of the saga translations will be celebrated in Tartu on 20 May.

Medieval Icelandic sagas are the biggest contribution of the Nordic countries to world literature. Family sagas, which tell of the events that occurred in Iceland during the Viking era, are the most famous saga genre. They describe the everyday lives of peasants, brutal vendettas, passionate love affairs and stories of scary encounters with mythical beasts that chill you to the bone.

The newly published collection of sagas consists solely of new translations created in collaboration between a hundred or so experienced translators, saga researchers and writers to guarantee that the translations are as accurate as possible.

The Department of Scandinavian Studies of the University of Tartu will celebrate the publication of the saga translations with a seminar and reception on 20 May, which will be organised with the assistance of the embassies of Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden in Estonia and the Nordic Council of Ministers' Office in Estonia. Iceland also holds the presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers this year and the publication of the saga translations forms part of their presidency programme.

The ambassadors of all of the aforementioned Nordic countries and several Nordic and Estonian saga researchers and translators will take part in the presentation.

Several Icelandic sagas have also been published in Estonian for the first time in recent years and a research project supported by the Estonian Research Council which focuses on studying sagas (under the instruction of Professor Daniel Sävborg) was launched in the Department of Scandinavian Studies a short time ago.


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