The Saga of Vilmundur the Outsider - Vilmundar saga viðutan

The Saga of Vilmundur the Outsider - Vilmundar saga viðutan

Book cover depicting a manuscript, with a man wearing a hat, holding a spear and wearing boots drawn on the paper

Author: Jonathan Y. H. Hui (Fitzwilliam 2013)

Publisher: Viking Society for Northern Research

The Saga of Vilmundur the Outsider is an entertaining romance composed in the late Middle Ages in Iceland, where it remained popular for another five centuries. It tells of the adventures of Vilmundur, the rustic son of a farmer, whose rise through society is characterised by a combination of unrefined social etiquette and raw athletic prowess.

Influenced by narratives of both indigenous and foreign origin, the saga is a good example of the eclecticism that characterises medieval Iceland's indigenous romances. It also holds a place of folkloric significance, as it is currently the earliest known variant of the Cinderella folktale (ATU 510A) which contains a cinder-name. Discussion of all this and other points of literary, textual and folkloric interest can be found in the introduction of this volume, which precedes a facing-page text and English translation of the saga.

The volume is the recipient of the Folklore Society's 2021 Katharine Briggs Award.

Publication date: 
Wednesday 12 May 2021
ISBN: 
9781914070006

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