Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1999, Side 162

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Part One
ory subject in the new masters degree of philosophy, increasing the de-
mand for university teaching in the subject (Weibull 1968: 330-31).
Henrik Schiick, who in 1890 was appointed reader in aesthetics and the
history of art and literature at the University of Lund - and was professor
in Uppsala from 1898 to 1920 - was the most important S wedish historian
of literature of his generation. His history of S wedish literature, which ap-
peared in three versions (1890, 1896 and 1926; partly in collaboration
with Karl Warburg), was conceived as a history of national literature. But
since Swedish nationality, in his opinion, had not yet been severed from
the Scandinavian and Germanic communities in the oldest period (“fom-
tiden”), prior to the 9th century (cf. Johannessen 1972: 131; cf. further
Gustafsson 1983: 149-51), Eddie literature, presumably having origin-
ated in the earliest period of national specialization, is included.59
In the first edition Schiick made a succinct survey of the principal ar-
guments conceming the age of the Eddie poems and concluded that no
extant poem could be older than the syncope period; most of them were
probably “written” between 950 and 1050, although a few might even
go back to the 9th century (Schiick 1890: 22-25). In 1926 he still
defended this point of view and grouped the Eddie poems into three
categories according to their origin, a mainly Norwegian group, an
Icelandic group from the heathen period and, finally, later Icelandic
“epigonic” poetry.60
59 Already for his first literary seminar in 1881 Schiick chose the following theme: “Hor
den islandska litteraturen till vår litteraturhistoria?” (Gustafsson 1983: 48). On the ques-
tion of the nationality of Eddie poetry, Schiick wrote in 1926 that “aven denna diktning
måste betraktas såsom vasentligen islandsk eller islåndsk-norsk, men att å den andra sidan
likartade diktér funnits både på danska och svenska. For det nya litteraturhistoriska upp-
fattningssattet ar dårfor den s. k. fomnordiska litteraturen ej en gemensam nordisk egen-
dom, utan islandsk, i någon mon norsk, men val ar denna litteratur en bland de fomamsta
kallor, som vi hava, då det galler att rekonstruera Sveriges litteratur under hednatiden.
Denna kålla år emellertid icke den enda, utan andra kållor hava vi i Saxos sagokronika, i
den tyska och engelska fomlitteraturen, i den finska och den ryska samt till sist i våre egna
runinskrifter och bildstenar” (Schiick and Warburg 1926: 5).
60 “De åldsta, som skrivits ånnu innan en islåndsk nationalkaraktår utbildat sig till skill-
nad från en norsk, tillhora utan tvivel den poesi, som emigrantema forde med sig från
hemlandet. Yngre, men i det hela något så når samtidig, ar en grupp av diktér, som till-
kommit på Island ånnu under den hedniska tiden, och yngst ar den islandska epigondikt-
ning efter 1050 [...]. - [Note:] Till den norska gruppen råknar jag: Hamarsheimt, Skimis-
for, de fiesta diktema i Havamal, vidare Volundarkvida, dikten om Helge Hjorvardsson,
den andra sången om Helge Hundingsbane, Reginsmal, Fafnismal och Grottasongr, som