Historical and Literary Background to the Family Saga

G. Turville-Petre: Origins of Icelandic Literature, Oxford, 1953
P. G. Foote: "An Essay on the Saga of Gísli and Its Icelandic Background." In The Saga of Gísli. Tr. George Johnston. London, 1963, pp. 93-134.
T. M. Andersson: The Problem of Icelandic Saga Origins: A Historical Survey. Yale Germanic Studies, 1, New Haven, 1964.
J. Byock: Medieval Iceland. California, 1988.
J. Byock: Viking Iceland. 2000
Carol J. Clover: The Medieval Saga, Ithaca, 1982.
Preben Meulengracht Sørensen: Saga and Society. Odense, 1993
Vésteinn Olason., tr. Andrew Wawn. Dialogues with the Viking Age : narration and representation in the Sagas of the Icelanders.Reykjavík : Heimskringla, 1998.
W. I. Miller, Bloodtaking and Peacemaking

Sagas for comparison

 Njáls saga; Laxdæla saga; Egils saga; Eirik the Redís saga
 Gísla saga; Grettis saga
All in The Sagas of Icelanders, Penguin (2001)