Tom Shippey's new edition of H. Rider Haggard's saga-inspired Eric Brighteyes includes:
- An introduction to the work's literary and historical context
- Extensive annotations on its sources and influences
- Discussions of medieval Scandinavia and J.R.R. Tolkien
- 17 full-page illustrations by Lancelot Speed
Eric Brighteyes, published in 1891, represented a new departure for Rider Haggard, best-known at the time for his novels set in nineteenth-century Africa, such as King Solomon's Mines (1885) and She (1887). Set for the most part in tenth-century Iceland, it was praised by Tolkien for its heroic quality, and remains the best example of what was once a large and popular genre, the Victorian Viking novel. Unlike other works of this kind, however, though not unusually for Haggard, it is driven by female characters, and combines scholarly authenticity with Haggard's own unique flair for the strange and supernatural. In this new edition, Tom Shippey supplies Eric Brighteyes with extensive explanatory notes and an introduction discussing Tolkien's admiration for Haggard and the Victorian fascination with Vikings.
