Unwashed Children of Eve

by Matthew Driscoll

This book questions the established view that the writing of prose fiction in Iceland had effectively lain dormant between the end of the classic saga-writing period and the 19th centuury national romantic revival. Focusing on ten romantic sagas attributed to the clergyman and poet John Oddsson Hjatalin (1749-1835), the author examines the style and structure of the sagas in relation to the older literary tradition and more modern ideas of the enlightenment, and aspects of their transmission and reception.

356 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997