Anonymous, Gautreks saga

Annette Lassen (University of Iceland)

Ed. by Ármann Jakobsson, University of Iceland
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland), Kjerstin Moody (Gustavus Adolphus College), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 1200

Places

Iceland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Prose Fiction Narrative

Resources

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Gautreks saga

is a legendary saga (Icel. fornaldarsaga Norðurlanda). The saga is traditionally dated to the thirteenth century and is set in Götaland, in what is now Sweden, and in Norway. It is loosely related to

Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar

, another legendary saga, which tells the story of Gautrekr’s son, Hrólfr.

Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar

is believed to have been written as an independent sequel to

Gautreks saga

, which contains a reference to it in chapter 8, although the reference is not believed to be from the original version of the saga.

Gautreks saga is a well told saga in three episodes. The first episode concerns King Gauti of Götaland, who gets lost on a deer hunt and arrives at the home of a weird family deep inside the forest. After his visit, out of stinginess, the farmer

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1509 words

Citation: Lassen, Annette. "Gautreks saga". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 May 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=40792, accessed 26 April 2024.]

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