Book
The Burning of Njal
First published 1964
Treece retells Njáls saga as the story of friendships, marriages and legal disputes that harden into a cycle of killing in medieval Iceland. Njál’s wisdom and knowledge of the law repeatedly offer a route away from revenge, while Gunnar’s courage makes him both admired and vulnerable. Personal honour proves difficult to separate from the expectations of kin and neighbours.
The burning that gives the book its title is the culmination of choices made over many years rather than an isolated act of treachery. Treece preserves the saga’s combination of domestic detail, courtroom argument and sudden violence, presenting Icelandic society as a community governed by law but continually threatened by the duty to avenge injury.
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