Within and without family in the Icelandic sagas

The Icelandic sagas reflect a deep social interest in the nature of family obligations. Narrative tension and drama often result from carefully plotted increases in competition between families,while considerable space is given over to family biographies and genealogical information. As a result, the saga authors’ conception of the historical seems closely bound to a desire to represent family life. In Gísla saga Súrssonar and Íslendinga saga, the representation of family life extends to the situation of internal family conflicts, when the strict ethical codes underpinning the centrality of family obligations seem to be complicated and perhaps even threatened by characters’ formation of stronger bonds outside the family. The portrayal of internal family conflicts in these two sagas enabled the authors to express complex and often conflicting ethical issues.

Anthology of old Russian literature,

Mode of access: Internet.

Old Icelandic : an introductory course /

Mode of access: Internet.

Book-lore: a magazine devoted to old time literature.

Mode of access: Internet.

The Bookworm : an illustrated treasury of old-time literature

Imprint varies

Book-lore: a magazine devoted to old time literature.

Mode of access: Internet.

The Icelander abroad: Hjalti Skeggjason’s Swedish mission

This chapter analyses the characterization of Hjalti Skeggjason in the medieval Icelandic text Heimskringla. It argues that Hjalti is developed as an exemplary character who is able to adapt to life at the Norwegian court while exerting his own influence on how that court functions.

The fantastic in the family sagas : implications for saga authorship

There is increasing acceptance that characterisation in the family sagas is complex enough to include the subtle incorporation of protagonists’ inner lives. Thus, despite saga authors’ apparent desire to pass on traditional stories, saga characterization brings with it the possibility of a connection between the medieval author and the early Icelandic community represented in the sagas, a break in the saga code of objective narration that adds further weight to recent arguments that saga authorship was conceived in broader terms than merely the preservation of oral tales. One such break in objectivity occurs in the range of responses to the fantastic, when characters are forced to interpret the supernatural or strange events in their lives. At such times, the author allows glimpses of the inner lives of characters, focussing our attention on the way in which characters perceived and dealt with extraordinary occurrences, but also highlighting and thematising the distinctive social context of the early Icelandic community.

Sweden of the Sagas

In this paper, I discuss the representation of Sweden and Swedes in the Íslendingasögur, with an emphasis on identifying patterns across the works, both in terms of narrative structure and content. The aim in doing so is to shed light on modes of representing non-Icelanders in the Íslendingasögur, as well as on medieval Icelandic conceptions of Sweden as a distinct region within Scandinavia. I also aim here to add to a longer-term project that examines the place of foreign visitors to Iceland in the saga corpus more generally. As the scope of this paper is limited to Swedish characters, I am cautious about drawing broad conclusions about their representation – observations given here will need to be framed by a wider study, and one that reads for the characterisation of Swedes in the context both of other genres of saga literature and representations of characters from other regions beside Sweden. However, it is clear that some similarities exist in saga episodes involving Swedish characters: in four of the Íslendingasögur, Swedes are given roles as intruders or outsiders who threaten the community of the saga and whose deaths bring about a change in the for- tunes of their killers.

English writers: an attempt towards a history of English literature,

Vol. 11 was completed after Morley's death by W. Hall Griffin.

English writers: an attempt towards a history of English literature,

Vol. 11 was completed after Morley's death by W. Hall Griffin.

Arne Magnussons i AM. 435 A-B, 4to indeholdte håndskriftfortegnelser : med to tillæg /

"The list in A.M. 435B is that of Þormóður Torfason's MSS.-collection, by Árni Magnússon. The appendices consist of a list of Á. Magnússon's purchases at the Rostgaard auction 1726, and a list of MSS. in Bibliotheca Resenii 1685"--Halldór Hermannsson. Cat. of the Icelandic Coll., p. 17.

Registr yfir Íslands stiftisbókasafn /

Added title-page in Danish. Preliminary matter and captions in Icelandic and Danish.

Saga-book of the Viking Club.

By J.A.B. Townsend.