Gripla - 01.01.2001, Page 89

SAGAN HANDAN SÖGUNNAR
87
Lie, Hallvard. 1937. Studier i Hcimskringlas stil. Dialogene og talene. Oslo.
Lind, E. H. 1905-1915. Norsk-islandska dopnamr ock fmgerade namn frán medel-
tiden. Uppsala.
MorkFJ = Morkinskinna. Udg. Finnur Jónsson. STUAGNL. Kobenhavn, 1932.
Olafur Halldórsson. 1984. Maðurinn með refðið. Pétursskip búið Peter Foote
sextugum 26. maí 1984,45-50. Reykjavík. [Endurpr. f Grettisfærslu. Safni ritgerða
eftir Ólaf Halldórsson gefnum út á sjötugsafmæli hans 18. apríl 1990, bls. 470-
474. Stofnun Áma Magnússonar, Reykjavík.
Ólafur Halldórsson. 1997. Hálfsögð sagan. Frejas Psalter. En psalter i 40 afdelinger til
brug for Jonna Louis-Jensen, bls. 138-142. Det amamagnæanske Institut, Koben-
havn.
OIOFJ = Saga Oláfs Tryggvasonar af Oddr Snorrason munk. Udg. Finnur Jónsson.
Kobenhavn, 1932.
ÓITrEA II = Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta. Udg. Ólafur Halldórsson. II. Editiones
Arnamagnæanæ. A 2. Munksgaard, Kpbenhavn, 1961.
Quellen XI = Ausgewáhlte Quellen zur deutschen Geschichte des Mittelalters. XI. Her-
ausgegeben von Rudolf Buchner. Freiherr vom Stein-Gedáchtnisausgabe. Darm-
stadt, 1976.
Rímnasafn. Samling af de ældste islandske rimer. Udg. Finnur Jónsson. I. STUAGNL.
Kpbenhavn, 1905.
Schlauch, Margaret. 1934. Romance in Iceland. London.
Sigurður Nordal. 1920. Snorri Sturluson. Reykjavík.
Sæmundar Edda hinsfróða. Utg. Sophus Bugge. Christiania, 1867.
Vplsunga saga ok Ragnars saga loðbrókar. Udg. Magnus Olsen. STUAGNL. Koben-
havn, 1906-08.
Þjóðsögur JA = Islenzkar þjóðsögur og ævintýri. Safnað hefur Jón Ámason. II. Ámi
Böðvarsson og Bjami Vilhjálmsson önnuðust útgáfuna. Bókaútgáfan Þjóðsaga,
Reykjavík, 1954.
SUMMARY
In this article I try to describe the art and intent of the unique narrative devices em-
ployed by some of the anonymous authors of the Icelandic sagas to arouse the interest
of their audience and activate their imagination, sometimes by telling as tme a story
that the audience, unassisted by the author, later on is supposed to discover as a fraud,
sometimes by leaving their audience with an unsolved mystery to ponder. Some
authors tell only of the deeds and fates of the characters, without any explanations and
virtually no indication of their thoughts or motivation, in this way abandoning their
audience to the wondrous art of storytelling and leaving it up to them to fmd their way.
By this narrative technique they encourage the audience to fill in the gaps, whether
singly or in collaboration with others, to solve the puzzles which the saga narrator lays
before them, to enter into the world of the saga and to ponder who is behind the work
and what is its intention, so that the saga, even when the reading is over, continues to
ferment in the minds of those who listened. I suspect that the use of this narrative
technique in written books is a legacy from oral tradition, that it is a means by which