Translated by Randi C. Eldevik.
This study evaluates the role of legendary sagas in the lives of Icelanders from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It looks at the legendary sagas from the perspective of fictional prose narrative, and sheds light on the origin and nature of other genres that arose in Iceland, especially the Icelandic family saga 'Islendingasaga'. The author wishes to point out the richness and complexity of these long-neglected sagas. Even though they were probably composed for amusement and recreation, they deserve to be taken seriously as works of the intellect.
Author(s): Torfi H. Tulinius
Series: The Viking Collection, 13
Publisher: Odense University Press
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 340
Acknowledgements 9
Introduction 11
Part One: Preliminaries
I. Presentation of the Canon 17
1. Introduction 17
2. The Legendary Sagas 21
3. A work of historical fiction: 'Jómsvíkinga saga' 28
4. 'Egils saga Skalla-Grimssonar': The first Icelandic family saga? 30
II. Methodological Introduction 31
1. Narrative Analysis 31
2. Narratology 32
3. Narratology in the service of literary history 36
4. Thematic Analysis 38
5. Literature as expression of ideology 39
III. The Origin of the Legendary Sagas and the Advent of Fiction in Iceland 44
1. Socio-historical Conditions 45
2. How can the legendary sagas be dated? 46
3. The slow emergence of the legendary sagas 55
4. The Appearance of Fiction 63
5. The Attitude to Paganism 65
Part Two: Analysis of the Legendary Sagas
IV. 'Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks': An Illustration of Method 73
1. The Divisions of the Saga 74
2. The Narrative Sequences 76
3. The Subsections 81
4. A Structure That Makes Sense? 88
V. 'Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka' 115
1. Themes 115
2. Structure 118
3. Communication with Contemporary Readers 120
4. The Origin of 'Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka'? 125
VI. 'Ragnars saga loðbrókar' 128
1. Structure 129
2. Áslaug and Agnes 130
3. Competition for Vassals 135
4. The Different Forms and Meanings of 'Ragnars saga' 137
VII. 'Vǫlsunga saga' 139
1. Structure 140
2. The Theme of Treachery 141
3. Thematic Structure 144
4. The Different Destinies of the Two Lineages 149
5. 'Vǫlsunga saga' in thirteenth-century Iceland 152
VIII. 'Qrvar-Odds saga' 159
1. Biographical Composition and Individual Destiny 159
2. From Viking to King’s Champion 161
3. Significance for the late thirteenth-century Audience 162
4. A Hero Who Changes Over Time 163
IX. 'Hrólfs Saga Gautrekssonar': Playing with the form 165
1. A Sophisticated Structure 165
2. Recurring Situations and Motifs 168
3. The Virtues of the King and his 'Hirðmaðr' 169
4. Ludic Communication in a Courtly Context 174
X. Provisional Statement: The Language of Fiction in the Legendary Sagas 179
1. The Making of a Genre 179
2. The Paths of Fiction 182
3. What Fiction Tells Us About Reality 184
Part Three: The Paths of Fiction in Thirteenth-Century Iceland
XI. Jomsvikinga saga: King and Vassal in Conflict 191
1. Why Is Jómsvíkinga Saga Important? 191
2. A Complex Structure: Kings, Aristocrats, and Commoners 193
3. A “Political Saga”? 197
4. What is at stake in Jomsvikinga Saga? 200
5. 'Jómsvíkinga Saga' and Its Audience in the first third of the Thirteenth Century 207
6. Topical Concerns Projected Into The Past 210
7. A Cardinal Saga 215
XII. Toward A Description of The Thirteenth-Century Icelandic Language Of Fiction 217
1. The Construction of the Past 217
2. The Frame Of Reference 220
3. To Construct Meaning: A Poetics of Complexity 226
XIII. An Attempt at Application: Interpreting 'Egils saga' 234
1. A Political Story 238
2. The Unsaid in 'Egils saga' 250
3. A Complex Form for a Subtle Meaning 270
4. Subjectivity Projected Into History? 279
5. The Historian, the Politician, the Poet, and the Man 288
Conclusion 290
Bibliography 296
Appendix: Synopses of the Sagas under Study 311
