Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1994, Síða 144

142
Marianne Kalinke
vengeance, and its obvious disregard in the marriage of Ketilríður to her brother’s
killer, and with the blessing of her father. One should recall, however, that the
killing was a matter of self-defense; that Ketilríður’s brothers were the aggressors.
Furthermore, the marriage of members of formerly estranged or inimical families
is not uncommon in the Islendinga sögur,33 and thus this element of Víglundar
saga is not, in my estimation, the determining factor in its otherness. Not the
marriage to her brother’s killer translates the plot into the realm of romance, but
rather the fact that marriage to the lover, whoever he may be, ensures the happy
ending of a bridal quest, and this is the essence of romance.34
The distinguishing feature of Víglundar saga, what sets it apart from the
Islendinga sögur and yet has given it a place among them is its commingling of
elements from two different narrative types. The determinant ofplot in Víglundar
saga is the quest for a bride: in the forestory the end is achieved by means of
abduction, with the wooer acting alone; in the narrative proper the end is similarly
achieved, but solely through the intervention of those well disposed to the hero
and his quest. The saga is a bridal-quest romance. Its classification as an íslendinga
saga derives from incidental aspects (its temporal and geographic setting, its
personnel, and the specifically Icelandic expression and realization of the conflict)
rather than the essentials of plot. The quest for a bride is the catalyst in both the
prefatory and main narratives, and the ultimate goal of the protagonists is
marriage to the desired woman. When Torfi Tulinius asserts that the structure of
romance (“formgerð rómönsunnar” [p. 154]) turns out to be a more pronounced
element in Víglundar saga than the verisimilitude of the Islendinga sögur, he is
referring to the curious interplay of the means and impediments to attaining the
end, which derive from the world of the Islendinga sögur, and the end itself, which
is not affected by either geography or time. The laws prevailing in Víglundar saga
are those of romance rather than the Islendinga sögur. Consequently, despite its
temporal and geographical setting, despite its Norwegian and Icelandic cast of
characters, despite its feudlike conflict, one is justified in designating Víglundar
saga a romance, to be more precise, a bridal-quest romance.
Ágrip
Víglundar saga er í flokki ungra íslendingasagna. Hún hefur verið talin dæmigerð
fyrir hnignunarskeið sagnaritunar, þegar áhrifa erlendra bókmenntagreina var
tekið að gæta á innlendar ritmenntir, og henni hefur verið hallmælt fyrir að vera
33 William Ian Miller notes that “marriages contracted as part of a settlement of hostilities” —
which is not the case in Víglundar saga, however — “are known in the sagas, but are hardly so
frequent as to be deemed conventional practices” (Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law,
andSocicty in Saga Iceland [Chicago and London: Univ. ofChicago Press, 1990], n. 12, p. 367).
34 Derek Brewer, Symbolic Stories, p. 58.