Translated by Nicholas Jones.
This work explores the role of orality in shaping and evaluating medieval Icelandic literature. Applying field studies of oral cultures in modern times to this distinguished medieval literature, Gísli Sigurðsson asks how it would alter our reading of medieval Icelandic sagas if it were assumed they had grown out of a tradition of oral storytelling, similar to that observed in living cultures.
Sigurðsson examines how orally trained lawspeakers regarded the emergent written culture, especially in light of the fact that the writing down of the law in the early twelfth century undermined their social status. Part II considers characters, genealogies, and events common to several sagas from the east of Iceland between which a written link cannot be established. Part III explores the immanent or mental map provided to the listening audience of the location of Vinland by the sagas about the Vinland voyages. Finally, this volume focuses on how accepted foundations for research on medieval texts are affected if an underlying oral tradition (of the kind we know from the modern field work) is assumed as part of their cultural background. This point is emphasized through the examination of parallel passages from two sagas and from mythological overlays in an otherwise secular text.
Author(s): Gísli Sigurðsson
Series: Publications of the Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature, 2
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Year: 2004
Language: English
Commentary: downloaded and converted from harvard.edu online collection, doesn't include original pagination
Pages: 414
Series Foreword
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements for the English Translation
Footnotes
Introduction. Written Texts and Oral Traditions
The Medieval World View and the Individuality of Iceland
Oral Preservation, Latin Learning, and Snorri's "Edda"
One story in skaldic verse, on stone, and in Hymiskviða
Poetry and prose in Snorri’s "Edda"
The Origins of the Sagas: Two Types of Theory
Christianity and the Arrival of Literacy
The development of saga writing in Iceland in light of Latin literature
Three types of learned influence in the sagas
Do Origins Matter for the Sagas as Literature?
Direct References to Oral Tradition — Evidence of What?
Impasse — And New Perspectives
The Comparative Approach
About This Research
Footnotes
Part I. Oral Tradition in Iceland in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
1. From Lawspeaker to Lawbook
A Power Struggle between the Church and Secular Leaders?
Power and Prestige in Oral Society
Literacy and the Key to Power
Ari’s Records of the Earliest Lawspeakers
Pre-conversion lawspeakers by geographical region
Lawspeakers after the conversion: increased emphasis on family connections
Other records of the lawspeakers of whom Ari gives only names and family details
Lawspeakers after the Earliest Writing of the Laws
Guðmundr Þorgeirsson
Hrafn Úlfheðinsson
Finnr Hallsson from Hofteigur
Gunnarr Úlfheðinsson and his probable bloodline
Snorri Húnbogason
Styrkárr Oddason
Conclusions
Three Main Groups of Lawspeakers in the 11th and 12th Centuries
Conclusions
Footnotes
2. Óláfr Þórðarson Hvítaskáld and the Oral Poetic Tradition in the West of Iceland c. 1250: The evidence of the verse citations in "The Third Grammatical Treatise"
Collections, Anthologies, and the Literary Corpus
Scholarly Neglect of Óláfr's Poetic Examples
The Provenance of Óláfr's Citations
Examples known from other written sources
Examples not known from other written sources
Conclusions
Footnotes
3. Conclusions to Part I
Part II. The Saga World of the East of Iceland
4. The Same Characters in More Than One Saga
Literary Relations: Premises and Practices
The "Austfirðingasögur": Single Entity or Discrete Works?
The Same Character in More Than One Saga
Brodd-Helgi Þorgilsson
Sources other than "Þorsteins saga hvíta" and "Vápnfirðinga saga"
Víga-Bjarni, son of Brodd-Helgi
Geitir Lýtingsson
Þorkell Geitisson
Literary Relations between "Vápnfirðinga saga" and Other Sources
Footnotes
5. The Same Event in More Than One Saga
Parallel Genealogies
Genealogies of the Droplaugarsons
Genealogies of Helgi Ásbjarnarson
Conclusions
The 'Same' Events in Different Sagas
The battle in Böðvarsdalur
An ancestor of the Droplaugarsons wins a wife abroad
The drowning of Helgi Ásbjarnarson’s first wife
Helgi Droplaugarson kills Þorgrímr torðyfill
Gunnarr Þiðrandabani
Footnotes
6. Conclusions to Part II
Footnotes
Part III. The Sagas and Truth
7. The Saga Map of Vínland
Floating Memories
Viking sagas and archaeological remains
The settlement of Iceland in the sagas and other sources
Leifr Eiríksson, magical lands in the western ocean, and the Gaelic connection
The Sagas and Other Records of Vínland
The place of the Vínland sagas among the sagas of Icelanders
L’Anse aux Meadows: viking remains in Newfoundland
Two independent sagas — a re-examination
The scholarly search for Vínland
Using the Textual Evidence
Advances in Vínland studies: oral lore, L’Anse aux Meadows, and the independence of the saga accounts
The main voyages in popular memory
Leifr’s Vínland: southwest of 'Markland' in the south of the Gulf of St. Lawrence: Prince Edward Island and the Miramichi Bay
Straum(s)fjörður and Hóp: south and east of Leifr’s Vínland: the Bay of Fundy and the coast of New England
The Limitations of Oral Evidence
Footnotes
Part IV. New Perspectives
8. Implications for Saga Research
The Feud between Finnbogi the Strong and the Men of Hof
Conflicting openings to the feud
The winter wedding in Vatnsdalur
The duel from conflicting perspectives
The end of the affair
Independent chronologies
Conclusions
Mythological Overlays in "Hoensa-Þóris saga"
Source value, literary relations, the part of the ‘author,’ and social comment
"Hoensa-Þóris saga" in interaction with oral tradition
The killing of Helgi and the death of Baldr
The root of evil and dual structure: "Hoensa-Þóris saga" and "Vǫluspá"
Conclusions
New Growths on Ancient Roots
Repercussions
Footnotes
Bibliography
Published Editions of Works Referenced by Page Number
Other Sources
Pronunciation Guide
