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saga hreðu as one of a group of fourteenth-century sagas whose purpose
was “pure entertainment”.14 other general works on the Íslendingasögur
have simply been silent in regard to Þórðar saga hreðu.
It is important to note that the classification of the saga as late, and
therefore derivative, was based entirely on the stylistic elements of the
story, such as plot, characterization, and structure, and not on more “objec-
tive” linguistic criteria. Einar Ól. Sveinsson was only able to identify four
words in Þórðar saga hreðu that linguists do not believe were spoken in
Iceland before the thirteenth century, and he notes that a greater concen-
tration of young words would be needed to make a determination of the
age of the saga.15 He was, however, unwilling to reassess the date of the
saga, given its unsatisfying narrative.
the only effort to reverse this judgement came in a 1988 M.a. thesis by
Jón torfason which utilized Joseph Harris’ structural analysis method.16
In an article summarizing his M.a. research, Jón argues that especially in
terms of sentence structure, dialogue, and style, there is an economy to
Þórðar saga hreðu which warrants that “frásagnartæknilega eigi Þórðar saga
heima með þeim klassísku” [‘in terms of narrative technique it ought to be
considered amongst the classic sagas’].17 He suggests that the negative ap-
praisal of this saga has had very little to do with the actual style, and instead
is a judgment about the plot: “Líklega er það einna helst að sagan er skem-
mtisaga með ‘góðum’ endi og að persónur er í daufara lagi. aðalpersónan
leysir hverja þrautina á fætur annarri áreynslulítið en ekki fer fram mögnuð
glíma við stríð örlög” [‘Most likely this is primarily because it is a happy
saga with a “good” ending and because the main characters are somewhat
shallow. the main character solves one problem on top of another with
little effort and never has an epic struggle with fate’].18
Jón torfason’s more positive assessment of Þórðar saga hreðu as having
mann Pálsson on his 65th Birthday, 26 May 1986, eds. Rudolf Simek, Jónas Kristjánsson, and
Hans Bekker-nielsen (Vienna: Hermann Böhlaus nachf, 1986), 184.
14 Vésteinn ólason, Dialogue, 217.
15 Einar ól. Sveinsson, Ritunartími Íslendingasagna: rök og rannsóknaraðferð (reykjavík: Hið
íslenska bókmenntafélag), 126.
16 Jón torfason, “Þeir nafnar sóttust í ákafa: könnun á frásagnartækni og aðföngum í Þórðar
sögu hreðu” (Ma thesis, university of Iceland, 1988).
17 Jón torfason, “Góðar sögur eða vondar: athugum á nokkrum frásagnareinkennum í Íslend-
inga sögum einkum með hliðsjón af Þórðar sögu hreðu,” Skáldskaparmál 1 (1990): 128
18 Jón torfason, “Góðar sögur eða vondar,” 128.
COMPLETING Þ Ó R Ð A R S A G A H R E Ð U