Fichtner, Edward G.. The Narrative Structure of Egils saga

• Author: Fichtner, Edward G.
• Title: The narrative structure of Egils saga
• Published in: Les sagas de Chevaliers (Riddarasögur). Actes de la V. Conférence Internationale sur les Saga
• Place, Publisher: Toulon: Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne
• Year: 1982
• Pages: 355-69
• E-text:
• Reference: Fichtner, Edward G. "The narrative structure of Egils saga." Les sagas de Chevaliers (Riddarasögur). Actes de la V. Conférence Internationale sur les Saga, pp. 355-69. Toulon: Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, 1982.

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• Key words: structure (uppbygging)

Annotation

The narrative structure of Egils saga has been criticised as lacking focus; Walther Vogt suggests that its last 21 chapters signal a loss of direction and the end of the saga proper. The saga's 87 chapters can, however, be divided into three 29-chapter sections: Kveld-Úlfr (1-29), Skalla-Grímur (30-58) and Egill (59-87). Within each of these sections is a pair of chapters introducing the section, a pair of chapters concluding the section and five groups of five chapters each ("pentads"). The third and central chapter of each pentad is typically pivotal, either containing a significant event within the pentad or an event that can be later seen as having great importance within the story. A second structural system within the saga is the sequence of chapter 11 and every 11th chapter after this, which Fichtner calls "a kind of barometer which shows the state of the relations between Kveld-Úlfr and his descendants and the Norwegian kings" (p. 362). Fichtner concludes that these arithmetical symmetries show the saga to be a single, complete work - a "case study in social dislocation" (p. 356) centred around the succession of generations, their conflicts (often arising from property inheritance disputes) and the subsequent restoration of equilibrium. An appendix deals with issues of numerical composition and the structure of Egils saga raised following the presentation of the paper.

Lýsing

Frásögn Egils sögu hefur verið gagnrýnd fyrir að vera ekki nægjanlega heildstæð. Walther Vogt heldur því fram að síðustu kaflarnir tuttugu einn beri vott um að höfundur hafi misst áttanna og að honum mistakist að binda almennilega enda á söguna. Að sögn Fichtners er hins vegar mögulegt að deila hinum 87 köflum sögunnar [samkvæmt Möðruvallabók] niður í þrjá hluta sem hver um sig skiptist í 29 kafla: Kveld-Úlfur (1-29), Skalla-Grímur (30-58) og Egill (59-87). Í hverjum hluta eru tveir kaflar lagðir undir inngang, aðrir tveir undir niðurlag en restinni er hægt að skipta niður í fimm sinnum fimm kafla ("fimmhyrninga"). Þriðji kaflinn í hverjum fimmhyrning (miðkaflinn) hefur að geyma dæmigerðan hápunkt, annað hvort höfuðviðburð innan fimmhyrningsins eða viðburð sem kemur í ljós að skiptir miklu máli fyrir söguna sem heild. Annars konar byggingarmynstur innan sögunnar snertir kafla 11 og 11. hvern kafla þar á eftir, en þá kallar Fichtner eins konar "loftvog" sem leiðir í ljós hvernig sambandi Kveld-Úlfs og afkomenda hans við norska konungsvaldið er háttað. Fichtner kemst að þeirri niðurstöðu að þessi samhverfu mynstur sanni að sagan sé eitt, heildstætt verk - tilviksrannsókn á fólki sem missir sínar félagslegu rætur. Áherslan er lögð á það hvernig ein kynslóð leysir aðra af hólmi, hvernig þær takast á (átökin snúast oft um erfðagóss) og hvernig tekst að ná sáttum eða jafnvægi. Í viðauka er varpað frekara ljósi á þá tölfræði um byggingu sögunnar sem greinin er reist á.

References

Chapter 09: arfi Björgólfs: "These disputed claims to the property of Björgolfr and Björn are what upset the equilibrium between Haraldr and Kveld-Úlfr and their descendants, and what make it impossible for these families to establish and maintain a modus vivendi in Norway." (p. 363).

Chapter 66: Egill drap Ljót hinn bleika: "This, then, is clearly another instance of an attempt to take a woman by force, … What is more, it occurs in ch. 64, i.e., like the other two cases (Hildrið- and Þóra- related property claims, ch. 23 and 57), in the first pentad of the part in which it is recounted, and is thus parallel to those, not only in content, but also in its position in the structure of the saga. By killing Ljótr, Egill not only defends his friend Arinbjörn's kinsmen, he also prevents a recurrence of the disrupted property claims which might well have resulted from it." (p. 364).

Links

• Written by: Katelin Parsons
• Icelandic translation: Jón Karl Helgason