Scandinavian Heroic Legend and Fantasy Fiction: Poul Anderson – Hrolf Kraki’s Saga
Scandinavian Heroic Legend and Fantasy Fiction: Poul Anderson – Hrolf Kraki’s Saga

Summary/Abstract: Hrolf Kraki’s Saga (1974), an American fantasy fiction novel, represents the reception of medieval Scandinavian literature in popular culture, which has played a rather significant role since the 1970s. Poul Anderson treats the medieval sources pertaining to the Danish legendary king with exceptional fidelity and reconstructs the historical settings with almost scholarly care, creating a world more pagan than in his main source, the Icelandic Hrólfs saga kraka. Written at the height of the Cold War, Anderson’s Iron Age dystopia is a praise of stability and order in the midst of a civilisation under perpetual threat.

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