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The introductions to the sagas are generally excellent - having recently read Laxdaela Saga, I found that the context which Magnusson (and his equally distinguished collaborator on the translations, Hermann Palsson) provided on the wider European significance of the text was invaluable to understanding the story.
Magnusson and Palsson's decision to translate them into plainer English than the previous flowery, more literal, versions did much to make the saga accessible to a wider Anglophone public, along with the excision of the long lineages brought out in the originals every time a new character was introduced. That and the footnotes. They were excellent annotators.
Oh, and while Mastermind was terrific too, I just think that Magnusson's contribution to literature is being a little overlooked - the BBC online news item on his death doesn't say much more than that he was a "broadcaster, journalist and writer", which seems sad. |
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