The way to Vinland

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Road to Vinland is a novel by Margaret Elphinstone , published in 2000 by Canongate Books in Edinburgh under the English title The Sea Road . Marion Balkenhol carried out the translation into German.

July 5 to September 23, 1051 in Rome: The Icelandic monk Agnar Asleifsson writes the story of the pilgrim Gudrid from Iceland . During that summer the old woman had stayed in the English nunnery of St. Peter in the city on the Tiber and had then returned to her Icelandic homeland. There Gudrid founded a monastery in Glaumbær on the Skagafjord . There, Agnar, who had also returned home, donated the last rites in March 1069. Gudrid was buried in Icelandic soil next to her second husband Karlsefni .

action

Gudrid grew up with foster parents in Arnarstapi / Iceland. She was baptized there by the missionary Thangbrand . Gudrid's father, the Icelandic farmer Thorbjörn Vifilsson, had given the girl to Snæfellsnes after her mother's untimely death . Thorbjörn, restless, gives away almost all of his belongings and follows Eirik Raudi to Brattahlid on the southwest coast of Greenland. The Vikings - called Norsemen in this novel - sailing across the North Atlantic from Scandinavia and the British Isles, had colonized Iceland and some particularly brave seafarers had advanced further west. That dangerous sea voyage to Greenland fell victim to Gudrid's foster parents, who had followed the young girl out of attachment. Greenland, with its long hard winters, is like a prison for the settlers. But in the short summers the farmers defy the stretches of coast by the fjords with the bare essentials to survive the next winter.

Children who inherit the land and property of farmers and hunters are in demand. But women are scarce in Greenland. Gudrid is welcomed as a potential bride with open arms. Because Eirik has three unmarried sons. Gudrid says she will be married to Leif , the eldest of Eirik's sons. But Leif's return from a sea voyage to the court of the Norwegian king is delayed. Meanwhile Thorvald and especially Thorstein , Leif's two younger brothers, cast lustful looks at the beautiful maiden Gudrid. When Leif finally returns home after years, a wedding with him is out of the question for the young girl. On the way Leif had impregnated a "witch" who had loaded the future bride of the seafarer with a curse. Shortly after Leif's return home, the disaster takes its course.

In Greenland, which the Icelanders call “Green Land”, there is neither bread nor wine. But Leif brought wine with him from a trip to Vinland . Thorvald and then Thorstein, who have the longing for distant shores from their father Eirik in their blood, set off towards Vinland to take the land. Thorvald has to be buried by the ship's crew in vinland soil. He was hit by an arrow from a local. These Indians are called Skrælingar by the Northmen . Thorstein, meanwhile married to Gudrid, starts the journey to Vinland with his young wife. The expedition is not under any lucky stars. Storm throws sailors back to the Greenland coast. While spending the winter on the farm of a helpful settler, Thorstein, the best hunter in the Green Land, falls ill and dies.

When Gudrid returns home with her husband's body, she is recognized as a daughter-in-law and childless widow by her father-in-law, Eirik. Later Gudrid met the "seafaring merchant" Thorfinn, known as Karlsefni, in her father-in-law's house. Karlsefni is a name of honor given by the Norwegian king and means "whole guy". Karlsefni marries Gudrid because he wants to sleep with her. The marriage resulted in two boys - Snorri and Thorbjörn.

The couple's trip to Vinland is going well. Five years after Thorvald's death, they both repossess his settlement of Leifsbudir . There Gudrid gives birth to Snorri. After wintering with hardships and disputes within their own ranks and with the Skrælingar, the ship's crew returned to Greenland and then to Iceland with wood, skins and barrels filled with wine. Karlsefni now lives with his family as a large farmer in Iceland.

Other Norsemen went on trips to Vinland, but did not winter because of the hostile Skrælingar, but only felled wood for Greenland and hurried back.

Text basis

The story is based on Eiriks saga (Eiríks saga rauða), the Grænlendinga saga and the Eyrbyggja saga (source, p. 7).

shape

Gudrid reports to the monk Agnar, who is eagerly taking notes, in Rome (see above) about her journey across the edge of the known world and speaks to the scribe who remains guilty of any answer as you. Inserted into this “report” are passages (in italics in the source) in which an omniscient narrator (either the monk or the author) z. B. told about Gudrid.

reception

All of the following in Contemporary Writers in the UK:

  • Amanda Thursfield praises the author's intensive study of the sources and rates the tone of the prose in its human warmth as successful.
  • In the Times Literary Supplement of December 22, 2000, Ron Kirke emphasizes the achievement of the monk Agnar: a North Atlantic Bible indeed.
  • Alex O'Connell in The Times of October 4, 2000: The homage to Gudrid of Iceland had succeeded the author.
  • In The Herald of October 21, 2000, Simon Hall certifies the author "philosophical depth".

German editions

  • Margaret Elphinstone: The Road to Vinland. Novel. List Verlag, November 2003. 335 pages, ISBN 3-548-60389-0 .