The Greenlanders
Authors: Jane Smiley
Tags: #Greenland, #Historical, #Greenland - History, #General, #Literary, #Historical Fiction, #Fiction, #Medieval, #Middle Ages, #History
Acclaim for Jane Smiley’s
The
Greenlanders
“Wonderful.… A historical novel with the nearness of contemporary fiction.”
—
The New Republic
“A powerful, moving study of human frailty and the ephemeral nature of courage and love.”
—USA Today
“Exceptional.… Smiley’s fascination for the novel-yet-doomed settlers of
The Greenlanders
is entirely infectious.”
—
The Boston Globe
“Extraordinary.… An elegant elegy for a mute people.… Evidence of the flowering of an exceptional literary mind.”
—
The Philadelphia Inquirer
“A saga in the original sense of the word. It is everything this literary form suggests … and more.… Still, the novel is unmistakably modern. Nowhere is it more contemporary than in Smiley’s choice of protagonist. Margret is one tough woman.”
—Chicago Tribune
“A fine, fine piece of writing … robust and deeply satisfying.… She has brought us one of the most remarkable, accomplished, finely written and moving novels of our decade.”
—
St. Petersburg Times
Jane Smiley
The
Greenlanders
Jane Smiley is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of
A Thousand Acres
and more than ten other works of fiction, including
Good Faith, Horse Heaven
, and
Moo
, as well as a critically acclaimed biography of Charles Dickens. In 2001 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in northern California.
Also by Jane Smiley
FICTION
Good Faith
Horse Heaven
The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton
Moo
A Thousand Acres
Ordinary Love & Good Will
The Age of Grief
Duplicate Keys
At Paradise Gate
Barn Blind
NONFICTION
Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel
A Year at the Races
Charles Dickens
Catskill Crafts
The Greenlanders
was conceived while I was abroad in Iceland, in 1976 and 1977, on a Fulbright-Hays Full Grant for Study Abroad. I am indebted to the program for that support.
I also wish to thank Iowa State University for generously supporting this project at every stage.
—J. S.
FIRST ANCHOR BOOKS EDITION, SEPTEMBER 2005
Copyright © 1988 by Jane Smiley
Maps copyright © 1988 by David Lindroth
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Anchor Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, in 1988.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Anchor Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows:
Smiley, Jane.
The Greenlanders / Jane Smiley.—1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Middle Ages—Fiction. 2. Greenland—Fiction.
3. Historical fiction. I. Title.
PS3569.M39 G7 1988
813′.54 19
88002758
eISBN: 978-0-307-78804-7
v3.1
This book is fondly dedicated to Elizabeth Stern,
Duncan Campbell, Frank Ponzi, and to the memory of
Knud-Erik Holm-Pedersen
.
par munu eftir
undrsamtigar
guttnar toftur
i grasi finnask
paers i árdaga
áttar hofdu
Afterwards they will find the chessmen,
marvelous and golden in the grass,
just where the ancient gods
had dropped them.
“Völuspá”
(“The Sayings of the Prophetess”)
Contents
List of Characters
GUNNARS STEAD FOLK AND THEIR KIN
:
Asgeir Gunnarsson
, a wealthy farmer
Helga Ingvadottir
, his Icelandic-born wife
Margret Asgeirsdottir
, their daughter, born 1345
Gunnar Asgeirsson
, their son, born 1352
Birgitta Lavransdottir
, his wife, born 1357
Their daughters:
Gunnhild Gunnarsdottir
, 1374
Helga Gunnarsdottir, 1316
Astrid Gunnarsdottir
, 1381
Maria Gunnarsdottir
, 1384
Johanna Gunnarsdottir
, 1386
Their son:
Kollgrim Gunnarsson
, 1378
Thorkel Gellison
, Asgeir’s cousin
Jona Vigmundsdottir
, his wife
Their sons:
Skeggi, Ingolf, Ogmund, Ofeig
Olaf Finnbogason
, Asgeir’s foster son
KETILS STEAD FOLK
:
Ketil Erlendsson
, another wealthy farmer, Asgeir’s neighbor and rival.
Sigrun Ketilsdottir
, his daughter, mother of Ketil the Unlucky
Erlend Ketilsson
, his quarrelsome son
Vigdis
, Erlend’s wife or mistress
Thordis
, Vigdis’ daughter
Their sons:
Geir, Kollbein, Hallvard, Jon Andres
(born 1374)
GARDAR FOLK
(PRIESTS)
:
Ivar Bardarson
, Norwegian, caretaker of the Episcopal See of Gardar
Bishop Alf
, bishop of Gardar, from Stavanger district, in Norway
Sira Jon
, priest, nephew of Alf
Sira Petur
, a priest hastily ordained in Norway after the Black Death
Sira Pall Hallvardsson
, another priest in Alf’s entourage, of mixed Icelandic and Flemish descent
Sira Audun
, a Greenlander, designated a priest but not officially ordained
Sira Eindridi Andresson
, another Greenlander, Sira Audun’s cousin, designated but not ordained
Sira Andres
, son of Sira Eindridi
Larus the Prophet
, a Greenlander, originally a cowherd
SOLAR FELL FOLK:
Ragnvald Einarsson
, first owner of Solar Fell
St. Olaf the Greenlander
, his grandson
Bjorn Bollason
, from Dyrnes, second owner of Solar Fell
Signy
, his wife
Sigrid
, their daughter
Their sons:
Bolli, Sigurd, Hoskuld, Ami
ICELANDERS
:
Bjorn Einarsson Jorsalfari
Solveig
, his wife
Einar
, his foster-son
Snorri
, captain of an Icelandic ship
Thorstein Olafsson
, a teller of tales
Thorgrim Solvason
, a prominent Icelander
Steinunn Hrafnsdottir
, Thorgrim’s wife
Thorunn Hrafnsdottir
, Steinunn’s sister
NORWEGIANS
:
Thorleif
, ship’s captain, called the Magnificent by the Greenlanders
Skuli Gudmundsson
, a boy on Thorleif’s ship, later a hirdman of Kollbein Sigurdsson
Kollbein Sigurdsson
, last representative of the Norwegian king to Greenland, 1373–1376
RICHES
A
SGEIR
G
UNNARSSON FARMED AT
G
UNNARS
S
TEAD NEAR
Undir Hofdi church in Austfjord. His homefield was nearly as large as the homefield at Gardar, where the absent bishop had his seat, and he had another large field as well. From the time he took over the farm upon the death of his father, this Asgeir had a great reputation among the Greenlanders for pride. It happened that when he was a young man he went off on the king’s knarr to Norway, and when he returned to Gunnars Stead two years later, he brought with him an Icelandic wife, whose name was Helga Ingvadottir. She carried with her two wallhangings and six white ewes with black faces, as well as other valuable goods, and for pride folk said that Asgeir was well matched in her.