Signed, Brand New, First Edition, First Printing, Hardcover/Dust Jacket, List: $19.95, 560 + xiv pages
The Greenlanders
A Most Anticipated Book
by
Jane Smiley
(September 26, 1949 - present)
Smiley is the author of seventeen widely acclaimed novels, including A Thousand Acres, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Last Hundred Years Trilogy: Some Luck, Early Warning, and Golden Age. She is the author of five works of nonfiction and eight books for young adults. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, she has also received the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature.
The Greenlanders was published on March 12, 1988.
First Edition, First Printing, hand SIGNED, in my presence, to full title page.
No inscription; full signature only.
BONUS: The dust jacket is protected by a clear, removable, mylar cover.
From an event featuring Jane Smiley in conversation with Kristina Baker Kline, with a reading by Katrina Lenk at Symphony Space in New York City on April 23, 2024.
Please only bid if you will pay within five days of auction's end.
All domestic sales of $25 or more will be wrapped and shipped in a box.
If requested, there is a $1.00 surcharge for all domestic orders below $25 shipped in a box.
Shipping & Handling for USPS Media Mail is $5.49 (includes USPS Tracking).
Additional books shipped together via USPS Media Mail are $1.50 per book.
Shipping & Handling for USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope is $9.95 (includes USPS Tracking).
Shipping & Handling for USPS Priority Mail International Flat Rate envelope is $46.95.
I provide the highest quality author signed, first edition books.
100% authentic guaranteed - This is my COA "Certificate of Authenticity". I won't sell any signed book that I'm not 100% sure is hand signed by the author. I attended this Jane Smiley in conversation with Kristina Baker Kline, with a reading by Katrina Lenk event at Symphony Hall in New York City on April 23, 2024.
I'm not happy unless you are!
Please email any questions.
Thanks!
Book Description
Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author Jane Smiley’s The Greenlanders is an enthralling novel in the epic tradition of the old Norse sagas.
Set in the fourteenth century in Europe’s most far flung outpost, a land of glittering fjords, blasting winds, sun-warmed meadows, and high, dark mountains, The Greenlanders is the story of one family–proud landowner Asgeir Gunnarsson; his daughter Margret, whose willful independence leads her into passionate adultery and exile; and his son Gunnar, whose quest for knowledge is at the compelling center of this unforgettable book. Jane Smiley takes us into this world of farmers, priests, and lawspeakers, of hunts and feasts and long-standing feuds, and by an act of literary magic, makes a remote time, place, and people not only real but dear to us.
In a 2010 Time article, American author Jonathan Franzen included it in his list of influential books, and in an interview with Big Think, Franzen said, "I do not know of a better American novel within the last twenty years" than The Greenlanders.
from Publishers Weekly
In this vast, intricately patterned novel, Smiley accurately captures the voice of the medieval sagas. Understated, scattered with dreams and warnings, darkened by the brooding sense of unavoidable disasters to come, it is the tale of a Scandinavian settlement that lasted perhaps 500 years. With a meticulous attention to detail, the novel brings daily activities to lifefrom cheese making to hunting walruswhile examining the passions of a people under stress. The action centers on the family of Gunnar Asgeirsson. Gunnar's sister Margret is married off to Olaf, but he fails to consummate the marriage, and Margret begins a clandestine affair with a Norwegian sailor, Skuli Gudmundsson, who has stayed on in Greenland as a household retainer. Violence and tragedy ensue, and as Margret's unhappiness increases, her character hardens, and she offers her labor as an itinerant servingwoman. Although Margret is not always onstage, the novel spans the years of her long life. A foil to Margret, but no luckier, is Gunnar's wife, Birgitta, who is gifted with second sight. It is she who sums up the overriding sense of futility: "We have come to the ending of the world, for in Greenland the world must end as it goes on, that is with hunger and storms and freezing." Like the original Norse sagas, The Greenlanders roves restlessly from one folk group to another. Many of their destinies interlock, and certain exterior forces prey upon them all: the harsh climate; the marauding "skraelings," aboriginal Eskimos regarded as demons; outbreaks of bubonic plague and famine. Compulsive feuding, a witchcraft craze and a willingness to heed the apocalyptic prophecies of the madman Larus help to tear the society apart. As in her previous fiction (Duplicate Keys, The Age of Grief), The Greenlanders reveals Smiley's skill in delineating the behavior of individuals confined within a group. Her depiction of an isolated medieval folk battling for survival has a modern relevance. Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
from Library Journal
Of proven skill when writing short stories and conventional novels, Smiley here attempts a family saga set among the Norse peoples of 14th-century Greenland. Centered on the fortunes of farmer Asgeir Gunnarsson and his children and grandchildren, the narrative pictures a bleak, declining society. Founded by Erik the Red, the Greenland colonies flourished for centuries; then trade shipments were cut off by the Black Death in Europe, the climate grew colder, and native peoples became increasingly hostile. Vivid, even stunning descriptions of the land and customs of these "lost settlements" are The Greenlanders 's strong points. Characterizations are less successful; many personalities remain wooden throughout the lengthy action. Nevertheless, the exotic subject matter will appeal to historical novel fans. --Starr E. Smith, Georgetown University Library, Washington, D.C. Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
“Impressive. . . . Haunting. . . . She is a diverse and masterly writer.” –The New York Times Book Review
“An epic masterpiece. . . . Spellbinding.” –Newsday
“A sprawling, multi-generational, heroic Norse narrative.” –Chicago Tribune
“Totally compelling. . . . Fascinating. . . . In the manner of the big books of the nineteenth century, in which complex family and community matters unravel–Dickens, Dumas, Tolstoy–The Greenlanders sweeps the reader along. . . . Smiley is a true storyteller.” –The Washington Post