{"id":93092,"date":"2015-12-29T12:00:45","date_gmt":"2015-12-29T17:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=93092"},"modified":"2015-12-21T12:24:51","modified_gmt":"2015-12-21T17:24:51","slug":"words-could-not-fell-me-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Words Could Not Fell Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re away until January 4, but we\u2019re re-posting some of our favorite pieces from 2015. Please enjoy, and have a happy New Year!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

All photos by Karl Steel<\/p><\/div>\n

Reciting\u00a0sagas in the Westfjords of Iceland.<\/em><\/p>\n

Haymaking time had come, warm, dry, and cloudless, on a late summer\u2019s morning roughly a millennium ago. All the men had gone out to mow, except for Thorkel, who lingered in bed, eavesdropping on the women in the next room, digesting his breakfast, and, with less composure, the revelation of his wife Asgerd\u2019s infidelity. At last Thorkel roused himself, to speak a verse:<\/p>\n

\n

Hear a great wonder,
hear of peace broken,
hear of a great matter,
hear of a death
\u2014one man\u2019s or more.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Thorkel\u2019s prophecy came true with the help of a big spear. After an anonymous assailant stabbed Asgerd\u2019s lover, Vestein, Vestein\u2019s and Thorkel\u2019s brother-in-law, Gisli\u2014\u201ca man of great prowess, [yet] fortune was not always with him\u201d\u2014initiated the obligatory, inexhaustible cycle of revenge killings. Honor and familial chore-shirking would doom Gisli to a life of feud, outlawry, and death by mob, but not before he, too, had seized the chance to speak a great many verses.<\/p>\n

When I first heard the medieval Icelandic\u00a0G\u00edsla saga S\u00farssonar,\u00a0<\/em>I was sitting on a mound where archaeologists had excavated a Viking-era burial site, where Gisli might very well have buried Vestein, in the Haukadalur valley, on the banks of\u00a0D\u00fdrafj\u00f6r\u00f0ur, in the Vestfir\u00f0ir<\/em>, or Westfjords of Iceland. It was July, and the grass grew high, spangled with toadstools, wildflowers, and dried sheep dung, but it wasn\u2019t haymaking weather. Under a gray, drizzly sky, beside the subarctic waters of the fjord, I huddled with my husband, Karl, on a gray wool blanket. Read More >><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re away until January 4, but we\u2019re re-posting some of our favorite pieces from 2015. Please enjoy, and have a happy New Year! Reciting\u00a0sagas in the Westfjords of Iceland. Haymaking time had come, warm, dry, and cloudless, on a late summer\u2019s morning roughly a millennium ago. All the men had gone out to mow, except […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":907,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20653],"tags":[20363,19387,20366,1822,3281,8125,20364,17896,20360,10438,20362,20359,20361,20365],"class_list":["post-93092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of-2015","tag-ari-thorgilsson","tag-fjords","tag-haukadalur","tag-iceland","tag-myth","tag-mythology","tag-odin","tag-oral-storytelling","tag-sagas","tag-storytelling","tag-the-saga-age","tag-the-sagas-of-icelanders","tag-the-viking-age","tag-westfjords"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReciting Sagas in the Westfjords of Iceland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Alison Kinney listens to a three-hour recitation of Icelandic sagas.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Words Could Not Fell Me by Alison Kinney\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"December 29, 2015 \u2013 We\u2019re away until January 4, but we\u2019re re-posting some of our favorite pieces from 2015. Please enjoy, and have a happy New Year!Reciting\u00a0sagas in the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-29T17:00:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/15409647166_21c2aad03b_k.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alison Kinney\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alison Kinney\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alison Kinney\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2c273f1b946a41a3017f304926e8573a\"},\"headline\":\"Words Could Not Fell Me\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-29T17:00:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":317,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/15409647166_21c2aad03b_k.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Ari \u00deorgilsson\",\"fjords\",\"Haukadalur\",\"Iceland\",\"myth\",\"mythology\",\"Odin\",\"oral storytelling\",\"sagas\",\"storytelling\",\"the Saga Age\",\"The Sagas of Icelanders\",\"the Viking Age\",\"westfjords\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Best of 2015\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/\",\"name\":\"Reciting Sagas in the Westfjords of Iceland\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/15409647166_21c2aad03b_k.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-29T17:00:45+00:00\",\"description\":\"Alison Kinney listens to a three-hour recitation of Icelandic sagas.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/15409647166_21c2aad03b_k.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/15409647166_21c2aad03b_k.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Words Could Not Fell Me\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2c273f1b946a41a3017f304926e8573a\",\"name\":\"Alison Kinney\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6769beae7654585b1c1394d870999b1c7b9c46f120e2c1d8956ac44f4da68eaa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6769beae7654585b1c1394d870999b1c7b9c46f120e2c1d8956ac44f4da68eaa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alison Kinney\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/akinney\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reciting Sagas in the Westfjords of Iceland","description":"Alison Kinney listens to a three-hour recitation of Icelandic sagas.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Words Could Not Fell Me by Alison Kinney","og_description":"December 29, 2015 \u2013 We\u2019re away until January 4, but we\u2019re re-posting some of our favorite pieces from 2015. Please enjoy, and have a happy New Year!Reciting\u00a0sagas in the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2015-12-29T17:00:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":1536,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/15409647166_21c2aad03b_k.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alison Kinney","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alison Kinney","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Alison Kinney","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2c273f1b946a41a3017f304926e8573a"},"headline":"Words Could Not Fell Me","datePublished":"2015-12-29T17:00:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/"},"wordCount":317,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/15409647166_21c2aad03b_k.jpg","keywords":["Ari \u00deorgilsson","fjords","Haukadalur","Iceland","myth","mythology","Odin","oral storytelling","sagas","storytelling","the Saga Age","The Sagas of Icelanders","the Viking Age","westfjords"],"articleSection":["Best of 2015"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/","name":"Reciting Sagas in the Westfjords of Iceland","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/15409647166_21c2aad03b_k.jpg","datePublished":"2015-12-29T17:00:45+00:00","description":"Alison Kinney listens to a three-hour recitation of Icelandic sagas.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/15409647166_21c2aad03b_k.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/15409647166_21c2aad03b_k.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/words-could-not-fell-me-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Words Could Not Fell Me"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2c273f1b946a41a3017f304926e8573a","name":"Alison Kinney","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6769beae7654585b1c1394d870999b1c7b9c46f120e2c1d8956ac44f4da68eaa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6769beae7654585b1c1394d870999b1c7b9c46f120e2c1d8956ac44f4da68eaa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Alison Kinney"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/akinney\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/907"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93092"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93093,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93092\/revisions\/93093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}