The family saga is a genre of literature which chronicles the lives and doings of a family or a number of related or interconnected families over a period of time. In novels (or sometimes sequences of novels) with a serious intent, this is often a thematic device used to portray particular historical events, changes of social circumstances, or the ebb and flow of fortunes from a multitude of perspectives.
The word saga comes from Old Norse, where it meant "what is said, utterance, oral account, notification" and "(structured) narrative, story (about somebody)",Dictionary of Old Norse Prose/Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog (Copenhagen: [Arnamagnæan Commission/Arnamagnæanske kommission], 1983–), s.v. '1 saga sb. f.'. and was originally borrowed into English from Old Norse by scholars in the eighteenth century to refer to the Old Norse prose narratives known as sagas."saw, n.2.", OED Online, 1st edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2019)."saga, n.1.", OED Online, 1st edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2019).
The typical family saga follows generations of a family through a period of history in a series of novels. A number of subgenres of the form exist such as the AGA saga.
Successful writers of popular family sagas include Susan Howatch, R. F. Delderfield and Philippa Carr.
Literature The sagas of Icelanders – the medieval Icelandic family sagas from which the English word "saga" was derived Mahabharata, by Vyasa – the chronicle of the Chandravanshi Rajput clan founded by Puru, also considered the longest poem in human history Dream of the Red Chamber – one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it chronicles the rise and decline of the Jia family A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight, by Henry Williamson The Accursed Kings: The series chronicles the fall of the direct French Capetian dynasty in the early-to-mid 14th century after Philip IV’s three sons all die in quick succession without producing male heirs. Ada or Ardor, by Vladimir Nabokov Absalom, Absalom!, by William Faulkner The Artamonov Business, by Maxim Gorky Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh Beauty Is a Wound, by Eka Kurniawan Buddenbrooks, by Thomas Mann Captains and the Kings, by Taylor Caldwell Harmonia Caelestis, a historicist piece by Péter Esterházy The Cairo Trilogy, by Naguib Mahfouz The Cazalet Chronicles, by Elizabeth Jane Howard The Covenant, by James A. Michener The Crowthers of Bankdam, by Thomas Armstrong Dune, by Frank Herbert East of Eden, by John Steinbeck The Emberverse series, by S. M. Stirling The Eternal Call by Anatoly Ivanov Evergreen, by Belva Plain Fall on Your Knees, by Ann-Marie MacDonald Family Tree tetralogy, by Ann M. Martin The Fate of Šimoniai from Aukštujai, by Ieva Simonaitytė Fire & Blood by George R. R. Martin The Forsyte Saga, by John Galsworthy The Golovlyov Family, by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin The Good Earth and its sequels, by Pearl S. Buck Holes, by Louis Sachar Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi Homestuck, by Andrew Hussie The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende The Immigrants, by Howard Fast The Jalna books, by Mazo de la Roche The Kent Family Chronicles and The Crown Family Saga, by John Jakes Kristin Lavransdatter, by Sigrid Undset Os Maias, by Eça de Queiroz Old-fashioned Story by Magda Szabó I Malavoglia, by Giovanni Verga The Mallens, by Catherine Cookson Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez The Oppermanns, by Lion Feuchtwanger Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. The novel chronicles the struggles of a family of Korean immigrants in Japan throughout the 20th century. The Palaeologian Dynasty. The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, by George Leonardos The Promise, by Damon Galgut Radetzkymarsch (Radetzky March), by Joseph Roth Roma, by Steven Saylor Roots, by Alex Haley The Silmarillion, by J. R. R. Tolkien Sometimes a Great Notion, by Ken Kesey Strangers and Brothers, by C. P. Snow The Thibaults, by Roger Martin du Gard Time and the Wind, by Erico Verissimo The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullough The Lymond Chronicles and The House of Niccolò, Renaissance-set novel series by Dorothy Dunnett Under the North Star, by Väinö Linna The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold White Teeth, by Zadie Smith War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy The Witcher, by Andrzej Sapkowski The Zhurbins, by Vsevolod Kochetov
Film and television
A Big Family American Pop Arrested Development The Best of Youth, in Italian La Meglio Gioventù Blackadder Dark The Eternal Call Game of Thrones The Godfather Heimat House of the Dragon Household Saints How the West Was Won I, Claudius In a Land of Plenty JoJo's Bizarre Adventure My Country, My Parents One Hundred Years of Solitude Our Friends in the North Raajneeti Roots Roots: The Next Generations Sibiriada Star Wars Succession Sunshine Taken The Thorn Birds The Dirtwater Dynasty This Is Us Vacas
Video games Assassin’s Creed Castlevania The Case of the Golden Idol What Remains of Edith Finch
References