Synopses & Reviews
Anonymously written and transcribed from oral tales, the family sagas of Iceland are notoriously difficult texts to date. In this book, a host of contributors address the methodological problems inherent in dating the sagas, and in the process they offer insightful discussions of the saga form itself. Focusing on the several new written genres that developed in Iceland in the thirteenth century, they locate the dynamic position of the sagas at the intersection of oral and written traditions. In doing so, they highlight the crucial problems of philological research and the importance of accuracy in understanding literary history.
About the Author
Else Mundal is professor of Old Norse philology at the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Bergen and is coeditor of multiple volumes, including Oral Art Forms and their Passage into Writing, also published by Museum Tusculanum Press.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Else Mundal
What Is Dated, and Why? Saga Dating in the Histories of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature
Jürg Glauser
The Dating of the Oldest Sagas about Early Icelanders
Else Mundal
Redating Fóstbroeðra saga
Theodore M. Andersson
Dating the Sagas and Gísla saga Súrssonar
Emily Lethbridge
Dating Eyrbyggja saga: The Value of “Circumstantial” Evidence for Determining the Time of Composition of Sagas about Early Icelanders
Torfi H. Tulinius
Dating the Archetype: Eyrbyggja saga and Egils saga Skallagrímssonar
Jonna Louis-Jensen
The Temporality of the (Immanent) Saga: Tinkering with Forumlas
Slavica Ranković
Skaldic Citations and Settlement Stories as Parametres for Saga Dating Guđrún Nordal List of Contributors
Index