the Viking past. The many Christian writers of the sagas regarded the pagan past in a
markedly different way, and some went as far as to disregard the settlers’ ties to their old
homelands. The sagas of the Eastfjords reveal a noteworthy indifference to the memories
of the settlement. Only two sagas out of ten begin at the time of settlement (Reykdæla
saga and Hrafnkels saga), but with no accompanying genealogy connecting the families
with the ‘old’ Viking world. The stories of the settlement seem to be predominantly
associated with events and characters in west and north-west Iceland: the area where the
interest in skaldic poetry and the writing about pagan myth was also most clearly
attested. This geographic distinction within the genre of the sagas of Icelanders can be
no coincidence, and throws into relief the importance of constantly keeping in mind the
subtle differences between the sagas of Icelanders in their depiction of the Viking past.
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–– Guðrún Nordal––