Gripla - 01.01.1990, Síða 308

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GRIPLA
land: ‘In the work of Snorri saga-writing attains the fullest harmony of
knowledge and art, attractive narrative controlled by historical judg-
ment. The genre inclines ever more towards the historical novel, yet
without sacrificing the touch of authenticity, and it was to reach a new
pitch of artistry in Njáls saga,’4
The basic principles here set out were to be further expressed in the
introductions to other Sagas of Icelanders in íslenzk fornrit during the
following years and decades.5 Nordal’s essay Hrafnkatla was published
in 1940, and there he argues that the principal events narrated in
Hrafnkels saga never took place.6 In this essay he also alludes to the
objectives which had been followed in editing íslenzk fornrit, and he
says: ‘The editors of Fornrit texts up to now have, generally speaking,
made too much of the element of oral tradition in the Sagas of Ice-
landers, and have overestimated the historical value of such traditions.
The authors of the sagas have been credited with no more than a
grudging minimum.’7 8
This passage sounds an express warning which needs to be kept in
mind when estimating the material of the Sagas of Icelanders. But
there has been a certain tendency in work on these sagas since 1940 to
make generalizations from Nordal’s essay on Hrafnkels sagaf for this
reason it is as well to quote here some things he says in his conclusion:
‘Although I have not had space here to make any significant compari-
son between Hrafnkels saga and other sagas, I have tried to make it
plain that all sagas must not be measured by the same yardstick: not as
to their veracity, nor their sources, nor their handling of material. In
my opinion which I have been able to confirm time after time, every
single saga should be most carefully analysed in its own right. Of
course they all belong to one literary genre, and their common charac-
teristics are immediately obvious. But the individuality of each sep-
4 Op. cit., p. lxiii.
5 See, for example, Einar Ól. Sveinsson in the introduction to Laxdœla saga (ÍF V,
1934) and to Eyrbyggja saga (ÍF IV, 1935). See further, Jón Jóhannesson, introduction
to Austfirðinga sögur (ÍF XI, 1950).
6 Sigurður Nordal, Hrafnkada (Studia Islandica 7), Rvík 1940, p. 66.
7 Op. cit., p. 78.
8 Jónas Kristjánsson, ‘íslendingasögur’, Saga íslands III, ed. Sigurður Líndal, Rvík
1978, p. 304 ff; Vésteinn Ólason, ‘íslendingasögur’, Hugtök og heiti í bókmenntafrœði,
ed. Jakob Benediktsson, Rvík 1983, p. 137 ff.