Hoffman, Ann Preston. Violence, Heroism, and Redemption

• Author: Hoffman, Ann Preston
• Title: Violence, heroism, and redemption : a study of changing moral norms in five Icelandic family sagas PhD. Diss.
• Place, Publisher: Ann Arbor (MI): UMI Dissertation Services
• Year: 2007
• E-text:
• Reference: Hoffman, Ann Preston. "Violence, heroism, and redemption. A study of changing moral norms in five Icelandic family sagas." PhD. Diss. Ann Arbor (MI): UMI Dissertation Services, 2007.

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• Key words: characterization, religion, ethics (persónusköpun, trúabrögð, siðfræði)

Annotation

In her work, Hoffman explores concepts of essential religious qualities in the apparently secular themes of the Icelandic family sagas. She uses the theory of religiosity and the sacred from the work Mircea Eliade and Clifford Geertz to discuss character development and the concept of honor. Among the five family sagas Hoffman examines, she explores what appears to be the exception of Egil's Saga (pp. 348-436). As a child Egil already possesses traditional heroic qualities, which Hoffman attributes to his inheritance of ancestral paradigms and presence in the Odinic tradition of his paternal forbears. Egill holds a position of a 'dark hero' concerned only with his own honor and prestige. His redemption comes, however, after the death of his eldest son and with his recognition that he will be the end of his familial paradigm. Egil's Saga has the fewest ties to Christian culture of the family sagas, and Egil's actions lie outside the realm of social acceptability.

Lýsing

Í doktorsritgerð sinni kannar Hoffman hvernig trúarlegar hugmyndir birtast í meintum veraldlegum lýsingum Íslendingasagna. Hún styðst við kenningar um trúarbrögð og hið heilaga úr verkum Mircea Eliade og Clifford Geertz til að varpa ljósi á þróun persóna og gildi virðingar í samfélaginu. Hún tekur fimm sögur til rannsóknar, þar á meðal Egils sögu (s. 348-436) sem virðist stinga nokkuð í stúf við hinar fjórar. Þegar á barnsaldri má greina í Agli hefðbundin hetjueinkenni, en Hoffman rekur þau til forfeðra hans og tengsla þeirra við Óðinn. Egill fellur í flokk "dökkra hetja", upptekinn af eigin virðingu og velgengni. Það er ekki fyrr en elsti sonur hans deyr og hann áttar sig á að ætt hans á enda stendur að Egill göfgast. Annars er Egla sú Íslendingasagnanna sem er síst mótuð af kristinni menningarhefð, enda er hegðun Egils oft á mörkum þess að geta talist ásættanleg í félagslegu samhengi.

References

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Links

• Written by: Megan Pepin
• Icelandic translation: Jón Karl Helgason