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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" - 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.
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Njáls Saga A Critical Introduction By LARS LÖ N N R O TH
The Njáls Saga has long been recognized as the greatest of the Icelandic family sagas. Mr. Lonnroth’s critical introduction is a synthesis of what is known about the narrative art, composition and historical background of this monumental prose epic, which involves more than 600 characters over a period of 50 years. The author first scrutinizes the native sources for the plot of the saga and the Norse narrative conventions used in its construction. H e then shows how the traditional building blocks of oral saga composition were combined in an overall structure designed to express the unknown writer’s Christian world view. Finally, he places the saga in its social and historical context by showing how it serves the interests of a specific chieftain family, the Svinfellings, at a specific time, around 1280. His study results in a new theory of the origin, development, and death of the saga genre. "M r. Lönnroth is one of the best scholars in the field, and his book is a valuable, frequently brilliant addition to our knowledge and literary evaluation of the last great emanation of Icelandic saga tradition."—Konstantin Reichardt, Yale University
NJALS SAGA
A beardless man battling the forces of evil in the initial “N” introducing chapter 20 of Njáls saga in Kálfalaekjarbók {A.M. 133, fob), Icelandic manuscript from around 1300. Photo: A. Mann Nielsen.
LARS LÖNNROTH
N JÁ LS SA G A A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION
U N IV E R S IT Y OF
CALIFORNIA P R E S S . B E R K E L E Y , LOS A N G ELES, LONDON
University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England Copyright © 1976, by The Regents of the University of California ISBN 0-520-02708-6 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 73-94437 Printed in the United States of America
For Iris, Linus, and Magnus
C ontents
PREFACE, ix I.
N J Á L A AND ITS CRITICS, 1 Summary and Conclusion, 20
II. THE PLOT AND ITS SOURCES, 23 1. Main Parts and Episodes, 23 2. Continuity, 31 3. Tradition al Basis of the Episodes, 32 4. Nature of the Sources, 39
III. THE LANGUAGE OF TRADITION, 42 1. Introduction, 42 2. The Building Blocks, 43 3. World, 55 4. Action Patterns, 68 5. Rhetoric, 82 6. Njála and Saga Tra dition: Some General Conclusions, 101
IV. THE CLERICAL MIND, 104 1. Introduction, 104 2. Clerical Style and Foreign Influence, 107 3. God’s Plan and the Ógæja, 123 4. The Noble Heathen, 136 5. Gunnarr—Njáll—Alexander, 149 6. Some Concluding Remarks About Saga Style, 160
V.
THE SOCIAL CONTEXT, 165 1. Introduction, 165 2. The Social Conditions of Saga Production, 166 3. Nj