"In Iceland, we believe in literature — that's our first religion. The sagas are our mythology and, for us, the characters are bigger than the characters in the Bible. They are a living part of the culture and people refer to them and use their sayings in everyday speech. I try to read one saga each year just to keep myself in touch with the past. The old-fashioned language gives you a lot of possibilities as a writer to bend and find new meanings for old words that have to be used today to fit a different society."
Hallgrímur Helgason i CBC om de isländska sagornas betydelse för hans författarskap.
