Icelandic sagas are an important part of old Nordic literature and mythology, traces of which can be found in the history of literature all over Europe. They are largely passed on orally and are a part of the medieval culture of recitation. Alongside songs of gods and stories of heroes, they also document the history of colonisation in Iceland since the year 870, for example the saga of the people from the Laxárdal, wherein remarkably, a woman plays the central role. Or the story of Gunnlaug Snaketongue, a famous skald who mostly wrote hurtful, mocking poetry, and is head over heels in love with the beautiful Helga. The sagas are commonly set in Iceland, but also occasionally in Norway, England, Russia, the Baltics, and other Nordic countries. Night-reading with Lorenz Nufer (among others).
