Torfi H. Tulinius. The purloined shield or Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar as a contemporary saga

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  • Author: Torfi H. Tulinius
  • Title: The Purloined Shield or Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar as a Contemporary Saga
  • Published in: Samtíðarsögur. Níunda alþjóðlega fornsagnaþingið. Akureyri 31.7 til 6.8 1994. Vol. 2
  • Place, Publisher: Reykjavík: s.n.
  • Year: 1994
  • Pages: 758-69
  • E-text:
  • Reference: Torfi H. Tulinius. "The Purloined Shield or Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar as a Contemporary Saga." Samtíðarsögur. Níunda alþjóðlega fornsagnaþingið. Akureyri 31.7 til 6.8 1994. Vol. 2, pp. 758–69. Reykjavík: s.n., 1994.

  • Key words: social reality, intertextuality, author, literary elements (samfélagsmynd, textatengsl, höfundur, bókmenntaleg einkenni)


Annotation

Proposes evidence for Egils saga to be defined as a contemporary saga and to be interpreted as a coded message using analogies, echoes, and metaphors. For example, the saga’s depiction of Egill’s relationship with his brother Thorolf echoes Adils’ relationship to his brother and there are similarities between how Egil kills Berg-Onundr and how Adils kills Thorolf. There are also three colonists, all by the name of Ketill, introduced at different stages of the saga, with events reflecting each other at these points in the saga. Torfi Tulinius also highlights the expression of Christian doctrine in the saga, plausible intertextual links between David of Konungs Skuggsjá and Egill, and between Snorri Sturluson’s life and events in Egill’s life. It is proposed that the saga as a whole can be interpreted as Snorri’s own Höfuðlausn, in that it can be read as Snorri’s veiled confession composed in order to save his soul.

Lýsing

Torfi færir rök fyrir því að hægt sé að skilgreina Eglu sem sögu sem vísi til samtíma síns, og segi hluti undir rós með hliðstæðum, endurtekningum og myndmáli. Til dæmis bergmáli lýsing sögunnar á sambandi Egils við Þórólf, bróður sinn, lýsinguna á sambandi Aðils við bróður sinn. Einnig séu vissar hliðstæður milli þess hvernig Egill drepur Berg-Önund og Aðils drepur Þórólf. Þá séu þrír landnámsmenn sem heita Ketill kynntir til sögunnar með vissu millibili og atburðir sem þeim tengist séu að nokkru leyti hliðstæðir. Torfi ræðir einnig hvernig kristileg efni eru tekin til meðferðar í sögunni, hann bendir á textatengsl milli lýsingar sögunnar á Agli og lýsingar Konungs skuggsjár á Davíð konungi, og loks ræðir hann hliðstæður milli atburða í lífi Egils og í lífi Snorra Sturlusonar. Niðurstaða Torfa er sú að hægt sé að túlka söguna alla sem Höfuðlausn Snorra, sem dulda syndajátningu sem Snorri skrifar til að bjarga sál sinni frá glötun.


See also

References

Chapter 23: Ketill hængur hét maður: „There are six characters in the saga who are called Ketill and have a cognomen … and three are colonists in Iceland, Ketill hængur, Ketill blundur and Ketill gufa. Their arrival to Iceland is described at very different moments in the saga, witch is in itself an anomaly, since such accounts are usually clustered together in Íslendingasögur … The structural similarities of these accounts and their position in the saga, as well as the fact they all involve characters whose name is Ketill and a cognomen, indicate that they are somehow to be tekin saman, that is to say considered together when they are interpreted. This is supported by the spuriousness of these accounts when compared to other presumably older sources. This is especially true of what the saga tells us of Ketill blundur and Ketill gufa, and indicates that these accounts may have been composed for artistic reasons.“ (s. 762)
Chapter 39: kallaður var Ketill blundur: Idem
Chapter 79: Ketill gufa kom til Íslands: Idem

Links

  • Written by: Jane Appleton
  • Icelandic translation: Jón Karl Helgason