Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Page 145
V. Stylistic Configurations
Nu )jo at vér finnim ei, at pessari sogu beri saman vid aårar sogur,
|jær er menn hafa til fråsagnar, på må pat til bera, at ofroSir menn
hafa i fyrstu slikar eår aårar fråsagnir saman sett, ok skilr Javf mest å
um fråsagnir, at Joeir sem rita eår segja f>ær sogur, er Jjeim Jaikkir
skammt um talat, er oråfærir eru, på auka f>eir meå morgum orå-
um, svå at peim sem skilja kunna, pikkir meå fogrum oråum fram
bornar, sem åår våru sagåar meå onytum oråum ...1
(Now although we may not find that this story agrees with other stories
that people used to tell, the reason may be that ignorant men at first put
together such or other stories and in such cases what makes one tale
different from another is this, that if somebody writes or tells stories that
seem too briefly told to such as are themselves skilied in words, then the
latter will augment them with many words, so that those who have under-
standing think the same stories to be set forth with fair words which for-
merly were told with useless words.)
The above apologia for his expansive style by the author of the four-
teenth-century Icelandic romance, Bragda-Mågus saga - and implicitly
his assertion of the right to re-create and re-form a familiar narrative -
could be used in defense of the translated romances in general. The Old
Norse-Icelandic riddarasogur have come under attack for what they have
omitted from their sources as well as for their treatment of what they
have retained. That which is so characteristic of the French romances - a
large amount of authorial commentary, extensive reflections by the
author and his characters, sentimental discourses on the nature of love -
has not infrequently either been deleted in the riddarasogur or so radical-
ly condensed that only a suggestion of the content of the originals re-
mains. Brother Robert’s translation of Thomas’ Tristan has been nega-
tively criticized by Romance scholars and Scandinavianists alike. Joseph
Bédier lamented:
1 Bragda-Mågus saga, ed. Gunnlaugur I>6r3arson (Copenhagen, 1858), ch. 79, p. 176.
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