Sayers, William. Verbal Expedients and Transformative Utterances in Egils saga Skallagrímssonar

• Author: Sayers, William
• Title: Verbal Expedients and Transformative Utterances in Egils saga Skallagrímssonar
• Published in: Scandinavian Studies 88.2
• Year: 2016
• Pages: 159-81
• E-text:
• Reference: Sayers, William. "Verbal Expedients and Transformative Utterances in Egils saga Skallagrímssonar". Scandinavian Studies 88.2 (2016): 159-81.

---

• Key words:

Annotation

Text missing

Lýsing

Sayers fjallar einkum um þrjár senur Egils sögu með hliðsjón af því hvernig persónur beita beinni ræðu. Sú fyrsta er þegar Egill býst til að yrkja „Höfuðlausn“ handa Eíriki konungi. Önnur er þegar Þorgerður Egilsdóttir fær föður sinn til að hætta við að svelta sig í hel og þar af leiðandi að yrkja „Sonatorrek“. Sú þriðja er þegar Þorsteinn Egilsson fréttir að menn ætla að veita honum fyrirsát. Þótt senurnar séu ólíkar greinir Sayers eitthvað sem þær eiga sameiginlegt. Í þeim tekst Agli, Þorsteini og Þorgerði að finna munnleg úrræði, þar sem bein ræða virkar nánast eins og galdur. Þá eru bæði Egill og Þorsteinn í lífshættu vegna deilna um eignarhald á landi, óvinir þeirra eru ósýnilegir en milligöngumenn reyna að aðstoða þá, þ.e. Arinbjörn og Íri. Að lokum tekst þeim báðum að leysa málið með munnlegum samskiptum án þess að grípa til örþrifaráða.

References

Chapter 61: hamhleypa nokkur: "In the loft scene in York, there is no allusion to Queen Gunnhildr or her enmity, no comment but Egill’s on the presence of the swallow, no description of the shape-shifter (hamhleypa, “one going in [another] form”), whose equation with the bird is only to be inferred or may represent Arinbjǫrn’s conclusion. […] On the other hand, as this and other sagas reveal, Gunnhildr is an adept of sorcery, perhaps as a consequence of early years among the Sámi, and, indeed, Egill’s presence in York is attributed in the saga to magical compulsion on her part. Thus Gunnhildr is a most plausible candidate for the prime mover behind the twittering swallow, a deduction well within the saga conventions" (p. 162).

Chapter 80:: Nú erum við vélt: "Speech acts count for a great deal in the sagas, as does, even more, the author’s economical use of direct speech, in which the act is made manifest. This is evident not least in the third scene, the prelude to the composition of “Sonatorrek”. The account has comic overtones that modern readers may find difficult to reconcile with Egill’s stifling, swelling grief, but here the saga-man seems to have adopted Egill’s own wry stance before old age and life’s losses" (p. 179).

Chapter 86: og séð til sauða: "Like his father Egill extemporizing verse in the face of a novel set of circumstances, Þorsteinn pretends that Íri has brought him a message from the farmer Ǫlvadr, requesting that Þorsteinn come to see him. […] This passage is a good deal more subtly crafted than has been recognized or is reflected in current English translations. The alternate tracks across the Icelandic landscape are the physical manifestation of possible courses of action, given relief through multiple deictic references. The reader is invited to consult a mental map. These courses of action, in turn, reflect the assessment of communications – from Íri to Þorsteinn, from Þorsteinn to Íri and his other men – and options of response and reaction" (p. 169).

Links

• Written by: Piergiorgio Consagra
• English translation: