Gripla - 20.12.2015, Page 229

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PHILIP LAveNdeR
OEDIPUS INDUSTRIUS AENIGMATUM
ISLANDICORUM
Björn Jónsson á Skarðsá’s Riddle Commentary
in his 2013 monograph jeffrey Love informs us that the fornaldar-
saga generally referred to as Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks has not always been
a highly appreciated constituent member of the Icelandic literary canon.
despite being one of the earliest sagas to appear in print, edited by Olof
Verelius at the end of the seventeenth century, a downturn came after
‘academic interest in Heiðrekr’s exploits diminished some time during the
early twentieth century’.1 But recent work suggests that the saga’s fortunes
are on the up again, and of particular interest for the purpose of this article
are several recent scholarly contributions which focus on the verbal contest
of wits between Heiðrekur and Óðinn. this takes place in Chapter 9 of
the r-version (see below for the relevance of the r-version with regards
to the commentary discussed here) where 30 riddles are presented inter-
spersed with prose dialogue.2 the enigmatic charm of the interlocutors’
exchange, sometimes called the ‘gátur gestumblinda’ [riddles of gestur
the Blind] has spurred interest in the connections of the riddles to eddic
poetry, the balance maintained between education and entertainment, and
the epistemological and heuristic value of the defamiliarising worldview
which the riddles present.3
1 jeffrey scott Love, The Reception of Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks from the Middle Ages to
the Seventeenth Century (Munich: Herbert utz Verlag, 2014), 13. on Vereliusʼ edition of
1672 see also Love, The Reception of Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, 245–53, and kay Busch,
“grossmachtstatus und Sagainterpretation – die schwedischen Vorzeitsagaeditionen des 17.
und 18. jahrhunderts” (PhD diss., friedrich-Alexander-universität Erlangen-nürnberg)
(available online, accessed 20 August, 2015, https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-fau/frontdoor/
index/index/docId/45), 56–65.
2 the same chapter numbering is used in Christopher tolkien, trans., The Saga of King
Heidrek the Wise (London: thomas nelson and Sons, 1960).
3 Also called the ‘getspeki Heiðreksʼ. As well as chapter 4 of Love’s book, the following
can be mentioned as touching upon these themes: Hannah Burrows, “Enigma Variations:
Gripla XXVI (2015): 229–273
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