Five Saga Books for a New Century: A Review Essay
Theodore M. Andersson,
Indiana University
Stadur í nyjum heimi: Konungasagan Morkinskinna. By Ármann
Jakobsson. Reykjavik: Háskólaútgáfan, 2002.
Pp. 344. ISK 3,510.
Die Pidreks saga im Kontext der altnorwegischen Literatur. By Susanne
Kramarz-Bein. Beiträge zur Nordischen Philologie, 33. Tübingen
and Basel: A. Francke Verlag, 2002. Pp. 386. EUR 49.
Túlkun Íslendingasagna í ljósi munnlegrar
hefdar: Tilgáta um adferd. By Gísli Sigurdsson. Reykjavik:
Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi, 2002.
Pp. xvii + 384. ISK 3,500.
Hrafnkels saga eller Fallet med den undflyende traditionen. By Tommy Danielsson.
Hedemora: Gidlunds Förlag, 2002. Pp. 330. SEK 287.
Sagorna om Norges kungar: Från Magnús gódi till Magnús
Erlingsson. By Tommy Danielsson. Hedemora: Gidlunds Förlag, 2002.
Pp. 414. SEK 312.
As nearly as I can tell, these five books were published within a couple
of months of each other in late 2002. They interlock in interesting ways.
Ármann Jakobsson tries to locate Morkinskinna in the emergence
of romantic literature in Europe, and Susanne Kramarz-Bein studies Pidreks
saga in the context of King Hákon Hákonarson's program of
romance translations in the mid-thirteenth century. Gísli Sigurdsson
and Tommy Danielsson, in his first volume, both emphasize the oral roots
of the sagas about early Icelanders. Ármann Jakobsson and Tommy
Danielsson, in his second volume, both focus particularly on Morkinskinna.
Taken together, these books represent not only the most sudden but also
the most significant initiative in saga study since the launching of the
íslenzk fornrit series in the 1930s.
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