The Icelandic connection - 01.06.2010, Side 23

Vol. 63 #1
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
21
achieve a style where “thoughts and feel-
ings are conveyed through dialogues and
physical reactions.” The descriptive,
swift, and objective style, which he
employs consistently throughout the
novel, finds its peak when Snaefrfdur is
present, more specifically, through her
interactions and dialogues with other
characters.
There is little doubt that, in
Snasfrf&ur, Halldor had intended to chan-
nel something of “the harshness and pride
of her forebears, the women of the
soguold.” However, to accomplish this it
was not merely enough to decorate her
with bright clothing, azure eyes, and
golden belts and rings, it was necessary
that her character recall something of the
unique nature of her ancestors. Early in
the novel, when Snaefri5ur’s father, the
magistrate, questions her disinterest in -
what seems - a good marriage offer,
Snaefri5ur responds by saying that, “A
woman who has met a splendid man finds
a good man ludicrous,” and that she
would “Rather the worst than the next-
best.” The perceptive reader recognizes in
these words the language of the sagas,
perhaps recalling such sentiments as, “I’ll
marry no man as long as I know Kjartan
is still alive” or - if not emotionally
matched, more syntactically similar -
"Though I treated him worst, I loved him
best.” In this way Halldor was able to
echo the saga characters in Snaefn5ur’s
voice, without simply transcribing their
narratives onto his own, and perhaps jux-
taposing the characters phrasings, as
above, the reader is able to see in the
character of Snsefri5ur something of a
“study of Gu5run Osvff(ur)sdottir in
Laxdcela Saga.” Later in the novel, after
iSf&NCIX
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