Lethbridge, Emily. „Hvorki glansar gull á mér/né glæstir stafir í línum“.

• Author: Lethbridge, Emily
• Title: „Hvorki glansar gull á mér/né glæstir stafir í línum“: Some observations on Íslendingasögur manuscripts and the case of Njáls saga
• Published in: Arkiv för nordisk filologi 129
• Year: 2014
• Pages: 53-89
• E-text: Academia.edu
• Reference: Lethbridge, Emily. "„Hvorki glansar gull á mér/né glæstir stafir í línum“.: some observations on Íslendingasögur manuscripts and the case of Njáls saga." Arkiv för nordisk filologi 129 (2014): 53-89.

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Annotation

In this article, Emily Lethbridge reviews the pre-Reformation parchment manuscript evidence of Njáls saga, as well as other Íslendingasögur. The article is in three parts: first, it considers the preservation of Njáls saga as the sole text in the manu-script, an anomalous situation; second, the focus is broadened to discuss the effects of the material transmission of Íslendingasögur on modern reception of the narratives and on no-tions of the “canon.” The third section, far shorter, discusses some ways in which the manu-script evidence can lend insights into how the sagas have been read and understood over time. For this reader, the most interesting section of the paper deals with Njála’s manuscript transmission, especially as a separate manuscript text. This may be due to its length, which Dr. Lethbridge says is “one obvious and pragmatic explanation.” (p. 57) It may also be that Njála was the most popular of the Íslendingasögur, as may be shown by the sheer number of manuscripts of it that were in circulation (17/18, versus 13 of Egils saga , 5/6 of Grettis saga, 4/5 of Eyrbyggja, and 2/3 of Gísla saga, for example) (p. 66). The article can also lead one to reconsider the popular literary values of the various sagas, as well as their placement in the “corpus” of the Íslendingasögur. In Moðruvallabók, for example, Njála runs from bl. 1ra1-61rb8, fol-lowed by Egils saga, with begins at top of the next page, bl. 62va1. This leaves one full column of 61rb empty, a highly unusual occurrence at a time when vellum was at a premium. Dr. Lethbridge concludes that this “supports the theory that Njáls saga was conceived of and execut-ed as a complete and independent Njáls saga unit,” later used in the Moðruvallabók compila-tion (p. 63) This is also show by the references to the death of Gaukr Trandilsson in the mar-ginalia on bl. 61b. This refers to a small section of Njála (footnote 1) and Dr. Lethbridge believes it points to *Gauks saga, which is believed to have been planned to be copied following Njáls saga in one codex (p. 62). She concludes that the length, geographic scope, narrative themes, and memorable characters make Njáls saga a likely candidate to be the most popular and most copied of the Íslendingasögur.

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References

Chapter 139: "munu margir mæla að eigi dræpi eg Gauk fyrr en mér væri nauður á.“ : “Gaukr Trandilsson is a character in Njáls saga: chapter 26 of Njáls saga notes how Gaukr is killed by his foster brother, Ásgrimr Elliða-Grimsson, and this incident is referred to again later on in chapter 139. This intersection would make *Gauks saga a good one to pair with Njáls saga.” (p. 62)

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• Written by: Tom Ireland-Delfs
• Icelandic/English translation: