'Njáls saga' is the best known and most highly regarded of all medieval Icelandic sagas and it occupies a special place in Icelandic cultural history. The manuscript tradition is exceptionally rich and extensive. The oldest extant manuscripts date to only a couple of decades after the saga's composition in the late 13th century and the saga was subsequently copied by hand continuously up until the 20th century, even alongside the circulation of printed text editions in latter centuries. The manuscript corpus as a whole has great socio-historical value, showcasing the myriad ways in which generations of Icelanders interpreted the saga and took an active part in its transmission; the manuscripts are also valuable sources for evidence of linguistic change and other phenomena.
The essays in this volume present new research and a range of interdisciplinary perspectives on the 'Njáls saga' manuscripts. Many of the authors took part in the international research project 'The Variance of Njáls saga' which was funded by the Icelandic Research Council from 2011-2013.
Author(s): Emily Lethbridge, Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir (eds.)
Series: Medieval Institute Publications. The Northern Medieval World: On the Margins of Europe
Publisher: Western Michigan University
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 378
City: Kalamazoo
List of Illustrations vii
Introduction / Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir xiii
A Note on References to Editions and Manuscripts in this Book xxiii
Abbreviations xxv
Whose 'Njála'? 'Njáls saga' Editions and Textual Variance in the Oldest Manuscripts / Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir and Emily Lethbridge 1
Collaborative Manuscript Production and the Case of Reykjabók: Paleographical and Multispectral Analysis / Beeke Stegmann 29
Gráskinna: Material Aspects of a Pocket, Patchwork 'Njála' / Emily Lethbridge 55
Sveinsbók: A Reexamination of a Fragment of 'Njáls saga' / Bjarni Gunnar Ásgeirsson 87
Copying 'Njáls saga' into One’s Own Dialect: Linguistic Variation in Six Fourteenth-Century Manuscripts / Haraldur Bernharðsson 115
The Historical Present Tense in the Earliest Textual Transmission of 'Njáls saga': An Example of Synchronic Linguistic Variation in Fourteenth-Century Icelandic 'Njáls saga' Manuscripts / Ludger Zeevaert 149
'Njáls saga' Stemmas, Old and New / Alaric Hall and Ludger Zeevaert 179
The Postmedieval Production and Dissemination of 'Njáls saga' Manuscripts / Margrét Eggertsdóttir 203
'Njals saga er þetta. Loft ur hefur lesið mig.' Readership and
Reception of 'Njáls saga': A Selection of Marginal Notes and Paratextual Features / Susanne M. Arthur 231
Creating in Color: Illustrations of 'Njáls saga' in a Nineteenth-Century Icelandic Paper Manuscript / Þorsteinn Árnason Surmeli 257
The Manuscripts of 'Njáls saga' / Susanne M. Arthur and Ludger Zeevaert 283
A Key to the Nicknames of 'Njáls saga' Manuscripts 293
Bibliography 295
Index of Manuscripts 315
Index of Works, Personal Names and Place Names 319
