Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Page 134

perspective. The modification of the third water-pouring episode, al-
though limited to a substitution of name, is nonetheless contingent on
broader structural considerations: a desire to achieve symmetry and to
balance related episodes. Similar considerations must have led to the
modifications in content and structure as well as the additional material
in the Fjallsharfir episode, lvens saga incorporates a familiar pattern: all
those who have been rescued place themselves immediately at the dispos-
al of the rescuer, but the latter sends them to Arthur’s court to give
report instead. Structural intervention by the authors of the riddarasogur
at times effected the insertion of a passage or episode in a different place
from that occupied in the romance, or even the creation of new narrative
material to satisfy a different sense of narrative structure. At times a
change in the sequence of events concurs with changes in narrative sub-
stance; consequently, the resultant passages deviate markedly from the
corresponding sections in the French romance as, for example, the ac-
count in romance and saga of the first encounter between Erec/Erex and
Enide/Evida discussed earlier in this chapter (see pp. 103-04). Generally,
the authors of the riddarasogur were concerned not only with plot but
also with more formal elements, such as structure. In faet, some revisions
or additions evolving from structural considerations result in greater ap-
proximation of the translated romances to the indigenous Icelandic sagas.
One recognized feature of the native sagas is that they commence with
a preface about the main characters.
The preface can be a simple presentation of the protagonists with a characteriza-
tion of one or both which hints at the ensuing conflict. It can be a historical
preface which gives the family background of the hero. Or, finally, it can be an
almost independent story which serves to adumbrate the personalities of the saga
or the unfolding plot.7
The form taken by the preface or prologue in the translated romances can
vary from work to work. In faet, the riddarasogur display considerable
range in the form and length of the introductory section. The work that
comes closest to the style and structure of the Icelandic family sagas is the
Saga af Tristram ok Isodd, an indigenous imitation of the translated
romances. It is a revised version, a parody of a riddarasaga, namely the
Norwegian Tristrams saga, and a travesty of Arthurian romance in gen-
eral (see pp. 198-211). The Norwegian Tristram opens with a lengthy
7 Theodore M. Andersson, The Icelandic Family Saga. An Analytic Reading (Cam-
bridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967), p. 29.
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