Gripla - 01.01.2003, Qupperneq 89

INTERPRETATION OR OVER-INTERPRETATION
87
Runólfr’s account, in a version of Óláfs saga helga (see above, note 12); the
mention of an altemative version of his killing (see above, p. 74); and, not
least, the verses cited in the saga, many of which can be shown to be in-
dependent of the saga prose.
If the case for literary dependence in these two sagas is dismissed, the
arguments for their late dating also dissolves. But this does not automatically
confirm the traditional view of their ‘archaic’ status. An absence of depen-
dence on other literary texts is one consideration that may point towards early
date, but is not decisive. The accompanying criterion of unsophisticated nar-
rative style, characteristic of both texts, may also be an indication of authors
working outside an established, more leamed tradition, rather than in its
vanguard. The indications of influence from oral tradition might appear to
suggest early date, but there is no reason to suppose that oral narratives did not
continue to flourish throughout the time of writing of the sagas. The close
analysis of existing manuscripts advocated by Ömólfur Thorsson may be
valuable for the sake of more detailed knowledge of the texts at a particular
moment in their evolution, but must not be allowed to overshadow indica-
tions, such as those I have pointed out in the case of Bjarnar saga, of the
existence of earlier layers in that evolution. The investigations of Gísli
Sigurðsson suggest that it may be possible to deduce more about the oral
prehistory of the written saga than scholars have allowed themselves to be-
lieve.
If Bjami Guðnason fails to convince of the specific datings he argues for,
his work has the negative virtue of helping to cut these sagas loose from
conventional assumptions of their early date. It remains for further and more
detailed investigations of possibly archaic word forms and stylistic features,
and in particular the ways in which the development of written narrative from
oral traditions might work in detail, to provide a more convincing picture of
the genesis of these texts.