The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1995, Síða 67

SPRING/SUMMER 1995
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
177
reputation for being difficult to understand,
but the account here is extraordinarily clear,
explaining it’s origins and nature, and not
the least clarifying the magnificent beauty
of the best of this poetry, as for instance
Egill Skallagrimsson’s poems. The same can
be said of Vesteinn’s chapter later in the
book (483-515) on religious poetry. His
style and narrative is clear and imaginative,
perhaps stimulated by the subject itself. It
is the poetic sense of details which often
makes history of any kind a sheer pleasure
to read. For instance in the beginning of
the chapter on Eddaic poetry, where he is
describing the brown and ugly gem of a
manuscript which contains the main bulk
of this poetry, he says that perhaps it was
the great poet Hallgrimur Petursson who
gave the book to Bishop Brynjolfur
Sveinsson, a pioneer in the collecting of
manuscripts, and perhaps he was then
awarded with a better parish, where he had
the peace to compose the Passiusalmar (The
Passion Hymns), another of the great jew-
els of Icelandic literary history. This is not
impossible, but whether it is true or not
doesn’t matter for it is an illuminating de-
tail which enriches the text.
There was no reason for the revision of
the classification of poetry, but the chapter
on secular historiography, primarily written
by Sverrir Tomasson (265-418, except pp.
309-345, which is written by Gubrun
Nordal) includes a revision of the tradi-
tional classification, in accordance with tra-
ditions in medieval scholarship. The fam-
ily sagas (Islendingasogur), the chivalry ro-
mances (riddarasogur) and the legendary
sagas {fornaldarsogur Nordurlanda) are not
included in this chapter, they
are to be covered in the second volume. The
reason for this is not given, but
Islendingasogur and fornaldarsogur are in-
deed those which escape most general defi-
nitions of medieval literature. The present
account of the secular historiography is,
however, written from a new point of view.
Sverrir is indeed well known for connect-
ing the old Idelandic literature to the gen-
eral literary activities of the middle ages.
Without doing so, it is in fact impossible to
understand the special characteristics of the
saga literature. By giving a thorough ac-
count of the education of medieval man, as
well as the conception of history, the ground
is prepared for an understanding of this
manifold literature, treated as different
types of sagas, national history, the
comtemporary sagas of Sturlunga, written by
Gubrun Nordal, lives of bishops and Kings
sagas. Gubrun writes on the art and ethics
of the Sturlunga sagas, no less than their ‘his-
torical’ characteristics. Both Gubrun and
Sverrir share with Vesteinn the ample over-
view, enriched with the sense of detail.
The overall point of view is based upon
separating the secular and the sacral writ-
ings. Accordingly, there is a separate chap-
ter, written by Sverrir Tomasson, on sacral
legends, roughly divided into two types,
passions and confessions. By doing so, the
writing of a considerable bulk of sagas which
traditionally had been regarded as among
Kings sagas and Bishops sagas, is instead
connected to the translations of these gen-
res, that is, in accordance with a European
tradition. This is an important change in
perspective.
The last chapter written by Sverrir
Tomasson (Foreign wisdom and ancient knowl-
edge, pp. 519-571) is with regards to subject
matter, the greatest novelty of this volume
as it has never before been treated as a
whole. Thus the truly innovative and origi-
nal Icelandic works in the field, such as the
grammatical treatises and Snorra Edda are
dealt with in the context of general medi-
eval scholarship. There is also an extensive
account of theological and philosophical
writings, as well as the law. This important
chapter adds considerable insight into the
general frame of mind which created the
classical sagas.
Footnotes do not belong to works of this
kind, but following the main text there is a
very thorough list of sources, referring to