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tics on variations in phrasing. Like Jeffrey, netter is explicitly descriptive
in her approach and avoids any chronological speculation on how the use
of dialogue may have evolved. All three of these books focus on the nar-
rative use to which dialogue is put. none of them takes account of what
is said or what topics are covered by the dialogue. that will be my point
of departure.
Jeffrey deliberately avoids the term “conversation,”2 but I will em-
brace it because I am interested in what saga characters talk about. I will
nonetheless impose a strict definition of what constitutes conversation. In
what follows the word “conversation” will refer to an exchange of words
between at least two persons and composed of at least four utterances.
thus a single statement with a reply does not qualify as a conversation.
I begin with a list of 28 Íslendingasögur in the order in which they appear in
Íslenzk fornrit, noting the number of conversations in the first column and
the number of utterances in the second column. It should be understood
that I use only the lead manuscript in the case of variant redactions because
I am more concerned with a general comparison of Íslendingasögur with
konungasögur than I am with the variables in a given saga.
What, then, do the participants in these conversations talk about? It
is safe to say that they do not talk about trivial matters. There is no small
talk, no conversation for conversation’s sake. Most often it is weighty
matters that are discussed and decided on. Prominent among these subjects
are legal issues, and it is notable how often marriage arrangements prompt
conversation. not surprisingly, this is particularly true in those sagas in
which marriage looms large as a theme. Examples may be found in Hœnsa-
Þóris saga (Íf 3:29–30, 32, and 45–46), in Gunnlaugs saga (Íf 3:54–55, 60,
66–67, and 81), Eyrbyggja saga (Íf 4:71–72 and 112), Laxdœla saga (Íf 5:62,
65, 115, 128–129, 174, 195, 199–201, and 205–6), Kormáks saga (Íf 8:227
and 232–233), Víga-Glúms saga (Íf 9:38), Svarfdœla saga (Íf 9:148 and
186), Ljósvetninga saga (Íf 10:36–38), Njáls saga (Íf 12:8, 30, 41–44, and
240–241), and Harðar saga (Íf 13:13).
apart from marriage arrangements there is a wide variety of legal or
contractual issues that call for verbal exchanges. In Egils saga the recovery
of an inheritance becomes an opportunity for discourse (Íf 2:214–215). In
Hœnsa-Þóris saga the words that lead to a legal summons are recorded (Íf
2 The Discourse in Seven Icelandic Sagas, 5.