ERIC BRIGHTEYES

Eric Brighteyes is an epic Viking novel by H. Rider Haggard that concerns the adventures of its eponymous principal character in 10th-century Iceland. The novel was first published in 1891 by Longmans, Green & Company. It was illustrated by Lancelot Speed. The novel was an early example (and Haggard's introduction implies that it was the first) of modern efforts in English at pastiching saga literature. It clearly shows the influence of the pioneering saga translations by William Morris and Eirik Magnusson in the late 1860s. Science fiction historian David Pringle has stated that Eric Brighteyes, with its outcast hero and emphasis on violent conflict, "in many ways resembles a Sword & Sorcery epic before its time.” Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas praised Eric Brighteyes, saying that "nothing has been written in English that matches this complete comprehension of the blend of the fury and mysticism that was that greatest of anomalies, the Viking." Author Pamela Cleaver described Eric Brighteyes as the best of Haggard's historical novels. She stated that "there is a wonderful atmosphere with saga overtones in this doom-laden tale." Author John Scarborough included Eric Brighteyes on a list of what he regarded as Haggard's best novels, along with King Solomon's Mines, She, Cleopatra, Nada the Lily, and Red Eve.