The Far Traveler

I really enjoyed reading Nancy Marie Brown's The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman.  I think I am so slow reading nonfiction because of the vast amount of information an author has to present to the reader.  Certainly in this case there is much to think about and digest.  Although Brown writes about a Viking woman named Gudrid who lived around 985 and crossed the Atlantic multiple times, the book is really about so much more than that.  Brown pieces together the story of Gudrid's life, or what might have been her life, through many sources--Icelandic Sagas, archaeological digs, and her own wanderings and interviews with historians and other experts.  Gudrid is somewhat elusive, but Brown manages to provide a very plausible argument for what her life may have been like.  As well there is much discussion about the lives of 10th century Vikings in general and it is quite interesting.

The Vikings were all over the place.  Not just Norway, but the Hebridean Islands, Iceland, Greenland and even New Foundland (possibly all along the North American coast) amongst others.  These are some of the places Brown touches on and visited.  There is archaeological evidence to prove their presence in these locales.   It had to have been a harsh life--especially trying to live in places as unforgiving as Iceland and Greenland where there really are not a lot of natural resources.  Gudrid made her way to all these places.  Even at the end of her life she made a pilgrimage to Rome.

There are so many quotable passages in this book.  Brown truly does impart a great amount of information.  She obviously did her homework (and did it well) and you definitely get the feeling that this is a subject that is very dear to her heart.  She goes from subject to subject seamlessly and then wraps things back around to where she initially began.  Her writing style is chatty but knowledgeable, and for me I never thought it was dull (it was a great follow up to Kristin Lavransdatter).  Because I love needlework I am always naturally interested in anything to do with textiles, and I marked a few passages that I thought I'd share.  Brown talks about a burial ship discovered in Norway, in which was found the bodies of two women, one likely a queen and the other her servant.  The cloth a queen would have worn might have been made of wool, silk and/or linen. 

"Light, supple fabrics that clung to her form and draped elegantly, woven of several different textures in thread counts as high as 150 threads per inch."

If you are a needleworker you can appreciate how finely woven a cloth of 150 threads per inch is.  Very, very fine.  The highest thread count I can even work on when I am stitching on linen is 40 threads per inch, and that is pretty tiny.  Granted this is cloth that would be made into a dress perhaps, but still can you imagine weaving that?  And what would a Viking woman have worn?

"Based on the evidence of other burials, under their wool gowns the women would have worn an ankle-length shift or chemise of finely pleated linen, pinned at the throat with a small bronze or silver brooch.  Linen, being made of plant fibers, decays more readily than wool, and little of it remains.  But traces of linen are often preserved pressed into the backs of brooches, where contact with the metal has protected them.  Archaeologists have also deduced that the Oseberg queen wore a linen headdress--impressed into a clump of feathers on the bed was the shadow of a lacy, open weave.  The linen could have been white and glossy; linen smoothers have been found in many other Norse women's graves.  Made by flattening a single fist-sized droplet  of dark glass, these smoothers were still used in Norway and Scotland in the nineteenth century instead of irons."

Weaving/making cloth was an integral part of a Viking woman's life.  At one point it was even used as legal currency.  Brown spoke with experts from Copenhagen's Center for Textile Research about a Viking woman's work:

"Even if they had slaves to do their spinning, Viking women had to watch.  They had to know it was good enough.  What is Gudrid's status?  If she was rich, she would be doing mostly sewing and embroidery.  Rich women did some spinning, but they never did weaving--at least, they were not producing everyday textiles.  But I'm quite sure Gudrid learned how to do it all.  We see, historically, that it's important for all women to know how to produce fine cloth.  Textiles are often used as gifts.  It's a sign of a woman's status that she could produce excellent textiles."

The expert goes on to say:

"It's not so strange that textiles were so valuable and that people appreciated them so much as gifts.  For just two Viking Age costumes at Lejre, one male and one female, we had to produce 40,000 meters of thread.  For one sail for a ship, around 100 square meters in size, we had to produce over 300,000 meters of thread.  It's endless meters of thread."

Some of the work these women did literally would take years.  She talks about weaving in some detail, and it sounds like such careful, painstakingly meticulous work.  It almost seems like for the women who did it, it was their life.  But it was an important aspect of their lives as it was one of the few commodities that was available for trade from somewhere like Iceland.  Reading these sections puts me in the mood to read a couple of books that I acquired over the holidays; Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years : Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times by Elizabeth Wayland Barber and Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth .   Although I have a couple of other nonfiction books I need to get to first, these two are close to the top of the pile otherwise.

If you have any sort of interest in archeology, Viking history, women's history you might also enjoy The Far Traveler.  It's immensely readable (not at all dry and stuffy), and though I've mentioned lots about clothmaking, there is really an amazing lot of other information to be had here as well.  Too much for me to try and mention in one post!  My only disappointment is the lack of any sort of illustrations.  There might not have been much to see really at these archaeological sites, but reading about them and the artifacts found makes you want to see them as well. 

Comments

[Matt]

I'm with you that non-fiction takes more time to read, owing to the abundance of facts and names. I remember taking my time on Sword and Blossoms, reading a chapter and backtracking half a chapter. A friend just loaned me a copy of One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life by Bliss Broyard. It was a memoir of Anatole Broyard, who on his death-bed, revealed to his grown children that he was black. This one will take a bit of time to digest.

[Danielle]

Matt--Sword and Blossom had lots of historical detail in it, which I really liked. If all NF read like that or this Far Traveler book I would definitely read more. The only problem is--I wonder how many of those facts are going to stick with me? She covered so much it was almost overwhelming and the book was only about 300 pages! The book about Anatole Broyard sounds really interesting--I'll watch for your posts about it!

[BooksPlease]

This sounds a really interesting book full of information. There are so many things that we take for granted these days - the thought of spending years producing such fine cloth staggers me. Those "smoothers" sound amazing, what a pity about the lack of illustrations!

[Mary]

I second your recommendation of this book as easy to read and chock full of really interesting information about Viking lives and archeology. I especially enjoyed all the inisight into daily life and how archeologists have deduced these details. Pretty amazing. I missed having illustrations too so I immediately went looking for sites that might help out. Here is a good one from a prior Smithsonian exhibit: http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/start.html

[Dorothy W.]

This sounds very interesting; I love books that give a sense of what life was like in earlier times. And I'm slow with nonfiction for that reason too -- I feel like there is only so much information I can take in at once!

[Kim]

I have this book on my nightstand. I am very eager to read it, but it must wait until after I read my library books (People of the Book, Uncommon Reader). I read a lot of nonfiction, and reading nonfiction is slower than reading fiction. Sword & Blossom was a slow read for me, too, and very enjoyable. There were some wonderful photographs in that book. I fervently wish books (both fiction and nonfiction) had more illustrations today. A book to me is an art form.

[Camille]

I hadn't heard of this book yet, but I'm glad I know of it now. It sounds right up my alley. I'm also excited now about the Laurel Thatcher Ulrich book. I also have her Midwife's Tale on my night table that I hope to get to soon. I love early American stuff.

[Jaimie]

I have heard of this book and it looked intriguing. Your review is excellent! Wow you can stitch on 40 ct.? You are good!

[Lisa]

I am fascinated by women's history. I love to know how they lived and worked. Though I don't read a great deal of nonfiction, this sounds right up my alley.

[PamelaHD]

Oh my, another book to add to my TBR. This sounds fascinating - being of Scandinavian descent, it's always good to read about my heritage - especially about the women.

[Stefanie]

This sounds like a really good book. The Vikings supposedly even made it to Minnesota but some of the evidence has been proved fake. I can't imagine hand-weaving 150 thread count fabric. I am adding this book to my TBR list!

[Isabel]

Don't worry about remembering all the facts. The book will always be there for you!

I wonder how the women found time to do all that delicate needlework. Did they also have to do housework or did they have servants?

[Lesley]

That sounds like a great book. Have you read The Thrall's Tale? It's historical fiction and was one of my favorite books in 06.

[Matt]

I guess a biography would have stronger staying power than a book that covers a time period. The focus is more personal and thus narrower. I just started the Anatole Broyard memoir. He was one of the notable NY Times critics, so it shall be interesting to read about how he had got away with hiding his color.

[Danielle]

BooksPlease--She does describe things very well, but photos are always nice! I couldn't imagine working so hard and long on something either. It floored me when she wrote how long it even took to set up something for weaving--sometimes weeks before you could even start! We do take a lot for granted now.
Mary--Thanks so much for that link!! I found the catlog to the exhibit in the public library, so now have visuals! And I thought the archaeology info was also interesting--especially when she wrote that they have one shot at looking when they are digging and here she was a total amateur helping out!
Dorothy--I know I have already forgotten all sorts of details, but it is definitely interesting reading! I am always curious, too, about how people lived.
Kim--I hope you enjoy it--I liked her writing style. It made it all very easy going even though she shoots a lot of info at you. I also have the Brooks book to read!
Camille--I also have about three of Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's books as well. I find that period fascinating. I'd love to jump right in, but I don't think I could read more than one NF at a time.
Jaimie--I prefer working on smaller count fabric, but it has to be fairly stiff and I have to have good light! Of course it makes other counts much easier to work on!
Lisa--I am also particularly interested in women's history. I'd like to read more NF--I certainly have lots of books to choose from.
PamelaHD--I never really thought I was terribly interested in Scandinavian history, but the more I read the more I enjoy it! This would be a great intro to Viking history--with a nice slant on women.
Stefanie--I think you would like this! I had no idea the Vikings might have traveled this far into America--hence MN Viking?! I guess I never thought about that!
Isabel--In the case of Gudrid, who Brown was writing about--yes, she was wealthy and would have had slaves so she just watched over their work. I'm not sure how a poorer woman would have managed it, but she would probably have been a weaver, too along with everything else I suppose.
Lesley--I do have that book. I's so glad to hear you liked it. I am looking forward to it, and now will have to move it up the pile since you liked it.
Matt--I think when the book is about one person you do get a more intimate portrait of them. There was lots of info in this book, since Brown was piecing together Gudrid's life.

[Jeane]

This sounds like such a fascinating book, if only because I know very little of Viking history and am glad to hear of a book on it that's very accessible to the reader. Thanks for giving us the review!

[Danielle]

Jeane--I didn't really know much at all about this period either. It was a great place to start and I plan on reading more. I've actually checked out two books from the library, though mostly for the illustrations. And I have two PBS videos now waiting for me as well.