Lögberg-Heimskringla - 04.06.1970, Blaðsíða 5

LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 4. JÚNÍ 1970
5
body to Bergthor’s Knoll for
NjaTs sons to see.
In fhe Laxdaela Saga there
is more of a sense of reason-
less malice. We have the
witches who seem to delight
in persecuting people. There
is Killer Hrapp who seems to
be just bom mean. The killing
of Kjartain seems to be just as
senseless. But it seems to go
back to jealousy and pride.
Gudrun cannot have Kjartan
so she does not want anyone
to have him, particularly
Hrefna. It is understandable
but still more puzzling and
unusual than the motivation
of the Bergthora, Hallgerd
feud.
Though the action has its
basis in persomal motivation,
in Njal's Saga it is usually
traced to a court battle that
did not successfully deal with
the matter, but instead left
both parties unsatisfied. Thus
the outlawing of the bumers
satisfies everyone but Kari
and Skorar Geir and they
continue to seek revenge. The
final battle at the Althingi is
the final breakdown of the
carefully building antago-
nisms. The need for revenge
cannot be completely com
trolled by the system of
money settlements.
In Laxdaela Saga on the
other hand we usually find
the cause being traced back
to some curse by the witches,
or by Killer Hrapp or by
Geirmund. It is more as
though the actions of people
in the land have given the
land a personality or a char-
acter that will work itself out
through the people that live
there. Gudrun’s almost sense-
less demand that Bolli kill
Kjartan is part of the spirit
of Killer Hrapp who once
owned the farm that they
now live on. ’
The element of the super-
natural deserves further com
ment. There are various kinds
of superriatural agents in the
sagas. In Njal's Saga we have
the signs that appear on Good
Friday when the King of Ire-
land is killed. This is a com-
mon literary device. It implies
that the event that happened
is of cosmic importance. But
the sagas have two other kinds
of the supernatural, witches
and prescience. The balance
in Laxdaela Saga is toward
the active form of curse.
There is only one example of
prescience, Gest’s interpreta-
tion of the dream, and his
judgement on Kjartan and
Bolli. The balance in Njal's
Saga is towards prescience.
There is only one warlock,
Hallgerd’s uncle Svein.
The two different emphases
produce different effects. Njal
forecasts Gunnar’s future and
even his own death. This
lends an atmosphere of fatal-
ism to the story. The fate of
each of the people is already
determined, but at the same
time it is subject to a law of
cause and effect. The charac-
ters respond to the superna-
tural as though it were part
of their everyday lives.
We can see the influence
of it most clearly in the burn
ing of Njal. The burning of
Njal is built up to with a
series of predictions by just
about everybody. This plaees
the characters in a peculiar
situation. Their actions can no
longer be judged by the usual
standard, results; they must be
judged on an absolute scale.
W h e n Skarp Hedin learns
that they are all going to die
that night he says that they
must not wail or do anything
disgraceful. He is concerned
with his reputation. Skarp
Hedin is aware that since they
can do very little about their
fate, it is necessary for them
to act even more according
to the rules of proper conduct.
They must be heroic to the
last. In a way knowing that
they are going to die gives
room for this kind of courage.
In Laxdaela Saga the witches
and the curses provide im-
petus and suspense. The sus-
pense comes from the inevita-
bility of the outcome. We
know quite early that Kjartam
is going to be killed by Bolli,
but we are kept in suspense
ais the story builds up. The
curses add to the feeling of
inevitability and the sense of
a mysterious working out of
the fates of each character.
The c u r s e s also act as a
partial explanation of the sen-
selesísness of the final act, of
Bolli killing Kjartan.
The structure of the sagas
is important. At first sight
these two sagas appear to be
straight historical narrative
in a very sparse style. Then
the reader comes to one of
the branches where a certain
element is brought in, seem-
ingly irrelevant to the rest of
the story. To begin with its
relevance to the narrative is
not clear, but with the first
significant event the reader
begins to understand its
meaning. At first it seemed
as though a new story has
begun, but then the main
stpry is resumed.
We see that at the centre
of each of these stories there
is a certain act to be ex-
plained. In the Njal's Saga
this centre is the burning of
Njal. In the Laxdaela Saga it
is the killimg of Kjartan. At
the end of Njal's Saga, it says
“Thusi ends the sriga of the
burning of Njal.” At the end
of the Laxdaela Saga we have
Bolli asking his mother which
man she loved the most and
she cryptically refers to
Kjartan, and his death. These
evemts are the centre of the
saga and from the centre we
have several lines extending
in two directions. In one dir-
ection you have the history
| of all the things that were
involved in the death of
Kjartan. On the other side
you have all of the events
that resulted from this act. In
Njal's Saga you have this
same general structure.
Though each branch of the
saga cam be seen in relation to
the central event, they are
also capable of being seen as
stories in themselves. We
have a collection of stories
that seem to be self-sufficient.
Thus we do not have a series
of events leading up to the
central action, but rather a
series of stories leading up to
it. This is important, for
though each of the stories
that goes to make up the saga
is part of the central concem,
erich part is developed as a
story in itself. The resultant
stories are then interwoven to
create the saga as a whole.
This type of interweave is
appropriate to the stylistic
sparsity. When I speak of the
sparse style, I am referring to
the lack of any extensive de-
scription. The people, the
swords, the settings, all are
given only the most cursory
descriptions. When the king
gives Kjartan a sword, it is
described thus “It was a
magnificent weapon and rich-
ly ornamented.” or the feast
of Unn the Deep-Minded is
described thus “And when the
hall was filled with guests
everyone marvelled at the
magnificence of the feast.” Of
G u n n a r ’ s halberd, so re-
nowned, all we know is that
it is a halberd. Of Njal’s house
all we know is that it has
beams large enough to pin
Skarp Hedin when they fall.
The author of Njal's Saga,
though, has a tendancy to
describe fights in some detail.
T h e amplification then
tends to be along historical
lines. We learn about people
and things not from what
they look like but from what
they have been involved in.
The sword “Leg Biter” which
Bolli uses to kill Kjartan has
a story attached to it. It was
the sword that belonged to
Geirmund who put a curse on
it when Thurid stole it from
him. In the Laxdaela Saga the
history of a thing often in-
volves a curse of some sort. I
have commented already on
the importance of the history
of the land itself. In Njal's
Saga Gunnar’s Halberd is the
only object that really has
a history. The history of con-
flicts between various people
is more important and this is
usually traced back to some
court battle.
Just as the things tend to
be developed in termis of what
they have experienced rather
than what they are, so the
people are seen as the product
of experience. To create a
hero the author has him take
a trip to Norway, become a
favorite of the king and go on
a successful raiding trip.
This type of style then con-
centrates on action and leaves
the other levels of the story
in the background. The result
is the creation of a kind of
depth. The reader must fill
in the elements that are only
implied rather than described. j
The effect of this kind of
style is evident in Laxdaela
Saga in the last chapter when
Bolli Bollason asks Gudrun
which of her husbands was
the best and then which man
she loved the most. She never
really states how she feels,
but there is the emotion in
the background. We can feel
the emotion although it is not
stated, because we know what
has happened. We know the
story of the death of Kjartan
and Bolli and it provides the
background for this scene.
Throughout the saga we are
never told whether or not
Gudrun is in love with Kjart-
an. We are never told explic-
itly what she felt. We are left
to infer it from the action.
Thus the reader must fill in
this background not merely
from what he knows but from
his ability to sympathize with
the characters. It is this that
gives the characters depth.
>
In Njal's Saga we see the
same thing at work. Njal is
prescient. He knows what i's
going to happen, but he is
impotent to stop it. He hears
his sons going out armed and
he knows what they are going
to do and that it will result
in evil, eventually in his
death, but he can do nothing
to stop it. His inability to con-
trol his sons is built up
through the whole feud be-
tween Hallgerd a n d Berg-
thora. We know from what
we have seen that he cannot
stop his sons. Here the emo-
tion that Njal feels is not ex-
plicit. We understand it be-
cause we can sympathize with
him. This effect is related to
understatement for it uses the
reader’s background and sym-
pathy in order to create
depth.
It is this combination of
skillful story telling with so-
cial insight and psychological
depth that makes these sagas
one of the high points of
Western literature.
CHOICE
From ihe Icelandic by Friðjón Siefánsson
Translaied by Caroline Gunnarsson
Choice is torture, as Lovisa
Meifsdóttir was finding out.
She had been on the rack for
weeks now. Pulled two ways
at once by her feelings for
two young men, she must
maike a decision soon or snap.
When she came home this
evening she had found the
pencilled note that lay on her
bedroom chest wedged be-
tween the door and the door
jamb. She picked it up and
read it once more:
“I’m writing you this note
to let you know that I can’t
stand this any longer. I had
thought we considered our-
selves as good as engaged, but
if you value that dollar-dude
of yours more than me, you’d
better let me know. I’ve called
you three times to invite
you to the theatre, to the
movies and to a dance. But
you could never spare the
time to see me. Now I de-
mand that you phone me at
suppertime, between seven
and eight o’clock. There’s got
to be an end to this, one way
or another. I’m not a man to
be kept hanging around as a
lrist-minute emergency choice.
If you don’t ring I’ll take it
that you want to be rid of
me. I love you and I don’t
know what I’ll do if you drop
me, but I can’t live with this
uncertainty.“
Your Thorgeir.
That was that, and tonight
she had a theatre date with
Thorgeir’s r i v a 1, Kristinn,
who was the son and only
heir of a multimillionaire, and
involved in his father’s busi-
ness. Thorgeir, on the other
hand, was a mere trade ap-
prentice with no hope of in-
heritance, large or small, no
source of income and no
means of creating one, except
for a pair of willing hands.
What should she do?
She had known Thorgeir
for a long time and was real-
ly very fond of him. But she
was fond of Kristinn too. Of
course she was. He was an
educated man, pleasing and
presentable, to say nothing of
the future he could offer a
girl. On that score poor Thor-
geir didn’t rate.
Thorgeir would grieve for
her, though, but banish the
thought that she felt a touch
of satisfaction in being the
c e n t r e of competition be-
tween the two men. That
unworthy sentiment had
nothing to do with the deci-
sion she must make tonight,
possibly within the hour.
She pondered on the roy-
alty and aristocracy of other
countries, who set such grand
examples of selfless courage
in situations such as hers.
They had kept the course of
history in the right groove
through the ages by marrying
the high-born and wealthy
people they loved but little
or not at all, while breaking
their hearts over poor com-
moners with whom they were
deeply in love. Yes, the royal
and the near royal were the
true martyrs of the race.
Bound in loyalty to their
Continued on page 6.