Editing Family saga

{{Short description|Genre of literature}}
{{See also|Category:Family saga novels}}
{{refimprove|date=September 2020}}
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 [[novel sequence|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)",<ref>''Dictionary of Old Norse Prose/Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog'' (Copenhagen: [Arnamagnæan Commission/Arnamagnæanske kommission], 1983–), s.v. '[https://onp.ku.dk/onp/onp.php?o66076 1 saga sb. f.'].</ref> 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]]''.<ref>"[https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/171505 saw, n.2.]", ''OED Online'', 1st edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2019).</ref><ref>"[https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/169714 saga, n.1.]", ''OED Online'', 1st edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2019).</ref>

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 in which the word "'''saga'''" is derived
* ''[[Mahabharata]]'', by [[Vyasa]] – the chronicle of the [[Lunar dynasty|Chandravanshi]] [[Rajput]] clan founded by [[King Puru|Puru]], also considered the longest poem in human history
* ''[[Dream of the Red Chamber]]'' – one of the [[Classic Chinese Novels|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]]
* ''[[Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle|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]]
* ''[[Celestial Harmonies|Harmonia Caelestis]]'', a [[Historicism|historicist]] piece by [[Péter Esterházy]]
*The [[Cairo Trilogy]], by [[Naguib Mahfouz]]
*The ''Cazalet Chronicles'', by [[Elizabeth Jane Howard]]
* ''[[The Covenant (novel)|The Covenant]]'', by [[James A. Michener]]
* ''[[The Crowthers of Bankdam]]'', by [[Thomas Armstrong (author)|Thomas Armstrong]]
* ''[[Dune (franchise)|Dune]]'', by [[Frank Herbert]]
* ''[[East of Eden (novel)|East of Eden]]'', by [[John Steinbeck]]
* The ''[[The Emberverse series|Emberverse]]'' series, by [[S. M. Stirling]]
* ''Evergreen'', by [[Belva Plain]]
* ''[[Fall on Your Knees]]'', by [[Ann-Marie MacDonald]]
* ''Family Tree'' tetralogy, by [[Ann M. Martin]]
* ''[[Fire & Blood (novel)|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 (novel)|Holes]]'', by [[Louis Sachar]]
* ''[[Homegoing (Gyasi novel)|Homegoing]]'', by [[Yaa Gyasi]]
* ''[[Homestuck]]'', by [[Andrew Hussie]]
* ''[[The House of the Spirits]]'', by [[Isabel Allende]]
* ''[[The Immigrants (1977 novel)|The Immigrants]]'', by [[Howard Fast]]
* The ''[[Jalna (novel series)|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 (novel)|Middlesex]]'', by [[Jeffrey Eugenides]]
* ''[[One Hundred Years of Solitude]]'', by [[Gabriel García Márquez]]
* ''[[The Oppermanns]]'', by [[Lion Feuchtwanger]]
* ''[[The Palaeologian Dynasty. The Rise and Fall of Byzantium]]'', by [[George Leonardos]]
* ''[[The Promise (Galgut novel)|The Promise]]'', by [[Damon Galgut]]
* ''[[Radetzky March (novel)|Radetzkymarsch]]'' (''Radetzky March''), by [[Joseph Roth]]
* ''[[Roma (novel)|Roma]]'', by [[Steven Saylor]]
* ''[[Roots: The Saga of an American Family|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]]
* ''[[O Tempo e o Vento|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 trilogy|Under the North Star]], by [[Väinö Linna]]
* ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|The Vorkosigan Saga]]'', by [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]
* ''[[White Teeth]]'', by [[Zadie Smith]]
* ''[[War and Peace]]'', by [[Leo Tolstoy]]
* ''[[The Witcher]]'', by [[Andrzej Sapkowski]]

==Film and television==

* ''[[American Pop]]''
* ''[[Arrested Development]]''
* ''[[The Best of Youth]]'', in Italian ''[[La Meglio Gioventù]]''
* ''[[Blackadder]]''
* ''[[Dark (TV series)|Dark]]''
* ''[[Game of Thrones]]''
* ''[[The Godfather (film series)|The Godfather]]''
* ''[[Heimat (film series)|Heimat]]''
* ''[[House of the Dragon]]''
* ''[[Household Saints]]''
* ''[[How the West Was Won (film)|How the West Was Won]]''
* ''[[I, Claudius (TV series)|I, Claudius]]''
* ''[[In a Land of Plenty]]''
* ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]''
* ''[[One Hundred Years of Solitude (TV series)|One Hundred Years of Solitude]]''
* ''[[Our Friends in the North]]''
* ''[[Raajneeti]]''
* ''[[Roots (1977 miniseries)|Roots]]''
* ''[[Roots: The Next Generations]]''
* ''[[Sibiriada]]''
* ''[[Star Wars]]''
* ''[[Succession (TV series)|Succession]]''
* ''[[Sunshine (1999 film)|Sunshine]]''
* ''[[Taken (miniseries)|Taken]]''
* ''[[The Thorn Birds (miniseries)|The Thorn Birds]]''
* ''[[The Dirtwater Dynasty]]''
* ''[[This Is Us]]''
* ''[[Vacas]]''

==Video games==
* ''[[What Remains of Edith Finch]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Family saga| ]]
[[Category:Historical novels subgenres]]