Lönnroth, Lars. Njáls saga: A critical introduction
- Author: Lönnroth, Lars
- Title: Njáls saga: A Critical Introduction
- Place, Publisher: Berkeley: University of California Press
- Year: 1976
- E-text:
- Reference: Lönnroth, Lars. Njáls saga: A Critical Introduction. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976.
- Key words:
Annotation
Lars Lönnroth presents Njáls saga as, first and foremost, the product of a single talented author and storywriter. He addresses the different viewpoints that previous scholars adopted regarding the saga, and analyzes its narrative structure in order to uncover its origins. According to him, the author of Njáls saga could rely on literary building blocks familiar to medieval audiences in the North - formulas, stock scenes and characters, patterns of action etc. The rhetoric of the sagas would lend them a moral or didactic tone, and a clerical influence can be perceived in Njáls saga, which displays a more complicated style and more introspective psychological insights than other examples of the genre. Some motives that appear in the narrative - fate, divine agents, the "noble heathen" (see Lönnroth 1969) - are hallmarks of Christian influence. Lönnroth concludes that the saga was composed in a milieu where clerical and saga cultures co-existed, and intended for a mixed, albeit well informed audience. He also suggests a potential link between the author and the family of Svínafell.
Lýsing
Texta vantar
See also
Lönnroth, Lars. The Noble Heathen: A Theme in the Sagas
References
Chapter 46: og heldur óvinsæll: "In his presentation of characters, the narrator establishes the basic set of values for his episode. Although the tone of these presentations is generally sober and factual, many judgements are made which violate the principle of impassibilité." (p. 84)
Chapter 132: var hann þó jafnan haltur síðan: "Here the style is that of the traditional Icelandic saga: perfectly dry, empirical and ‘objective.’ The narrator shows us a scene but does not comment on it. Yet the scene has no precedent in the native tradition, and its psychology is ‘clerical’ rather than typical of sagas…" (p. 112)
Links
- Written by: Benjamin Holt/Ermenegilda Müller
- Icelandic/English translation:
