Gripla - 20.12.2005, Page 39

STYLISTICS AND SOURCES OF THE POSTOLA SÖGUR 37
miscunn af fundi ens helga Petrs postola, sem siflar mun fra verfla sagt
nacqvat [stranding, tag].
Nu scal flar til mals at taca [tag], es Faustinianus (er) fafler fleira
brøflra Faustus oc Faustinus, fla er hann spyrr tiflende flessi, at scip flat
haffle faritzc vifl Corpho, es kona hans var á oc søner [preface to
next dramatic encounter, which occurs between Faustinian-
us and his brother Bassus] (Post.:129.20-130.5).
It remains to be determined how much of the resemblance is attributable to the
narrative style of the saga’s sources and how much to the adaptations made
for the 645 version, as well as whether the adaptations resulted from a desire
to reproduce a pre-existing, native ‘saga style’ or a particular ‘imported’ style
learned from common European rhetorical traditions. In any case, detailed
comparative studies of both Paul’s saga and Clement’s saga with the Íslend-
ingasögur are certainly warranted. The account of Paul’s travels in the Acts of
the Apostles can be considered to be the precursor to almost all hagiographical
vitae, whereas Clement’s saga is considered stylistically closest of all the early
apostles’ and saints’ lives to the sagas, and perhaps might be considered a
precursor to the sagas in its own right.
5. Conclusion
Detailed study of the earliest Icelandic translations of foreign lives of apostles
and saints reveals them to be truly innovative adaptations, undeserving of the
common and at best lukewarm literary appraisal of medieval hagiographical
narrative. Criticism of or disregard for hagiographical narratives due to their
purportedly excessive sensational, pious, or rhetorical elements, or to the for-
mulaic qualities that seemingly render one saint’s life indistinguishable from
another, should be reconsidered regarding the earliest Icelandic translations,
represented by the texts collected in the manuscripts AM 645 4to and AM 652
4to. In the lives in these collections significant modifications are made to the
original source texts in order to provide, as much as possible, clear and co-
hesive narratives that focus on the virtutes, the deeds, of the apostles and
saints, rather than on the saints’ ‘violent ends,’ never allowing rhetoric or sen-
sationalism to obscure the edificatory aims of the narratives or the clear
portrayal of the saint as a model for imitation. The formulaic nature of the
narrative structures in many of these texts (in particular the Pseudo-Abdian