Studia Islandica - 01.06.1994, Blaðsíða 68

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Introductory chapters, bolstered with genealogies and
local background information, set the stage for events.
They are often heavy going for modern readers. The com-
ment made by one frequent saga reader that he often paged
quickly through the early chapters in a new saga to “get to
where the story actually began”, is significant, and reveals
much about the way in which a modern reader approaches
prose. It was only much later, this same individual added,
that he realized the importance of the introductions for the
structural unity of the sagas. Which should lead any trans-
lator to ask how much of this often rather dry and, at least
to an unfamiliar reader, unfathomable genealogical and his-
torical background should be maintained in translations, at
the very real risk of deterring uninitiated readers? The
question is far from an academic one, as at least eight chap-
ters of Laxdœla Saga have long sequences of genealogies
(10 lines or more of text in the íslenzk fornrit edition).1
Muriel Press’s version was the first translation of
Laxdœla saga into English. Her work offers no introduc-
tion whatever and only one small map, prepared by the
same anonymous “competent Icelander” who read over her
manuscript, and added a short explanatory note suggesting
an interpretation for one verse which was considered diffi-
cult to understand. There are no aids to understanding, such
as notes on genealogies or family trees, glossaries, and the
like. Nor are there any footnotes to explain difficult terms
and references, a shortcoming which Prof. Foote has seen
no reason to improve upon in his more recent edition. Ms.
Press has added chapter headings which indicate the year in
which she considers the events to have taken place. She
also provides accompanying marginal notes describing the
course of the action on each page.2
' A complete table of the extent of genealogical material in each chap-
ter is given in Appendix II.
2 Although the translator has attempted to follow the chronology pro-
posed by the saga itself, this is anything but consistent (see Sveinsson