Ferrari, Fulvio. From Saga to Comics

• Author: Fulvio Ferrari
• Title: From Saga to Comics: Njáls Saga and the Graphic Novels of Embla Yr Bárudóttir and Ingólfur Örn Björgvinsson
• Published in: The Medieval Translator / Traduire au Moyen Age vol. 12: Lost in Translation?
• Place, Publisher:Turnhout: Brepols
• Year: 2009
• Pages: 351-364
• E-text:
• Reference: Ferrari, Fulvio. "From Saga to Comics: Njáls Saga and the Graphic Novels of Embla Yr Bárudóttir and Ingólfur Örn Björgvinsson." Renevey, D., Whitehead, C. (ed.), The Medieval Translator / Traduire au Moyen Age vol. 12: Lost in Translation?, Turnhout: Brepols, 2009

---

• Key words:

Annotation

Fulvio Ferrari outlines the visual and narrative strategies employed by Embla Yr Bárudóttir and Ingólfur Örn Björgvinsson in their graphic adaptation of Njáls saga. While the plot is simplified and re-organized to fit in the formal aspects and narrative codes of graphic novels, visual characterization and colloquial language are used in order to render original textual features that are lost in the transmutation process or to convey the authors' interpretation of the saga.

References

Chapter 111: Guð hjálpi mér: "Höskuldur is depicted in the saga as a model of Christian virtue and the representation of his death owes much to hagiographic models. His last words, in particular, highlight his holiness (…). The graphic novel [Brennan] emphasizes the centrality of the scene by dividing it into several panels (…). The segmentation (…) gives the authors the possibility to interrupt Höskuldur's sentence with Skarpheðinn's exhortation 'vertu þig!' ('defend yourself!') which, contrasting with the victim's passivity, renders explicit and emphasizes the allusion to the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5. 38-39 and Luke 6. 29." (p. 357)

Links

• Written by: Ermenegilda Müller
• Icelandic/English translation: