Vogt, Walther H.. Zur Komposition der Egils saga

• Author: Vogt, Walther H.
• Title: Zur Komposition der Egils saga
• Published in:
• Place, Publisher: Götlitz: Hoffmann & Reiber
• Year: 1909
• Pages: 1-34
• E-text:
• Reference: Vogt, Walther H. Zur Komposition der Egils saga. Kpp. I-LXXXIV. Götlitz: Hoffmann & Reiber, 1909.

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• Key words:

Annotation

The main argument of this work is that the Egils saga was composed by one inconsistently working author. This is concluded from volatile induction and processing of subsidiary subject matters. Only the chapters one to sixty-six are regarded, since, as Vogt claims, they constitute a closed, one-stringed composition, while the saga afterwards disperses into a two stringed narrative. Therefore, the supposition is made that the latter part, chapter sixty-seven onwards, must be older and hence folk-like, whereas the former part is younger and shows both unity in language, structure of speech and composition, which hints at an author’s thought process. The outcome of this study is that the author of Egils saga crafted the narrative until chapter sixty-six out of multiple different parts that existed loosely before the author wrote them down, influencing the narrative in that way, as it is recounted in the author’s perception. For the second part, the author maintained the folk-like structure and simply intertwined it with the former part.

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• Written by: Felix Lummer
• Icelandic/English translation: