Vries, Jan de. Altnordische Literaturgeschichte

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  • Author: Vries, Jan de
  • Title: Altnordische Literaturgeschichte.
  • Place, Publisher: Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
  • Year: 1941-1942
  • Pages: 1941: 127-140; 1942: 297-304
  • E-text:
  • Reference: Vries, Jan de. Altnordische Literaturgeschichte. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1941-1942.

  • Key words: poetry (kveðskapur)


Annotation

In this two-volume work on the history of Old Norse literature the author discusses, among other things, the authenticity of particular verses and narrative episodes in Egil’s Saga. He assumes that there existed indeed poets who possessed the ability to compose this kind of poems spontaneously. On the other hand, he says, it is unlikely that there would always have been in the audience people who were capable of memorizing a poem at the moment it was recited. He stresses that these “occasional verses” attain their specific meaning only as parts of certain narratives. He furthermore doubts that those episodes in the saga that are full of romantic features are genuine. Nevertheless, Egil’s Saga contains, in his view, extraordinarily many personal details regarding Egill and can hence be described as the first biography of a poet.


Lýsing

Í þessu tveggja binda verki um fornnorræna bókmenntasögu fjallar höfundur m.a. um uppruna stakra vísna og þátta Egils sögu og hvort þetta efni sé sannsögulegt. Hann telur víst að þau skáld hafi verið til sem höfðu hæfileika til að yrkja dróttkvæðar vísur án undirbúnings en honum sýndist hins vegar ólíklegt að alltaf hafi verið viðstaddir áheyrendur sem voru færir um að nema vísuna um leið og hún var flutt og geyma í minni. Hann leggur því áherslu á að lausavísur fái sína tilteknu merkingu aðeins sem hluti frásagna. Ennfremur efast hann um að þeir þættir sögunnar sem eru fullir af rómantískum einkennum séu alveg ábyggilegir. Engu að síður telur hann að Egils saga innihaldi furðumiklar persónulegar upplýsingar um Egil og því megi lýsa sögunni sem fyrstu ævisögu skálds.

See also

References

Chapter 66: þá kvað hann vísu: "In Hinsicht auf die unter Egils Namen überlieferten Strophen müssen wir also große Vorsicht üben. Die Strophen der Ljótr-Episode scheiden ganz aus; auch die, welche zu dem Besuche bei Ármóðr [...] gehören, werden ziemlich allgemein als unecht betrachtet. Dasselbe gilt übrigens von fast allen Stegreifstrophen im späteren Teil der Saga“ (p. 138).

Chapter 80: orti Egill kvæði: "Strophen [...], deren Echtheit mir ziemlich sicher erscheint[:] An erster Stelle die Strophen, die den Freund Arinbjǫrn preisen, namentlich Str. 27, die dieselbe Umschreibung des Namens erhält, wie die Arinbjarnarkviða [...]" (p. 139).

Links

  • Written by: Silvia Vladimirova Raitschev
  • English translation: Silvia Vladimirova Raitschev