Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - L. M. Hollander, Studies in the Jómsvíkingasaga - 2. The Composition of the Jómsvíkingasaga
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
214 Hollander: Jómsv. saga.
mariage, Pálnatoki, is to be his bane. It is thoroughly
unnecessary for her to tell, or interpret, that another head
will fill its place — in other words, that from this marriage
an avenger will be born.
I have here referred only to such episodes as are com-
mon to all versions of the saga proper. Taken apart from
their natural connection, they will seem so many mechanical,
lifeless inventions; but in thus picking them out, injustice is
done to the work as a whole in which they are employed
with telling effect, in fact, give the saga the characteristic
excellence which led G. Storm to say: sagaen har med
rette været betragtet som en type paa skildringen af det
”nordiske kjæmpeliv”. (Arkiv 1883 p. 248.) A similar, fav-
orable opinion entertained by Yigfûsson, Prolegom. p. XCI.
I would unconditionally subscribe to Krijii’s findings *)
(against Storm) that the introductory þáttr was written a
short time after the saga proper was composed as an
introduction concerning the Danish kings and the relation of
Håkon jarl to them. I would add that it evidently had
a different author, probably some cleric; for an attentive
reader cannot help remarking that, in the first place, the
introduction, though fairly well told, has the appearance of
a compilation, and that its matter, whereever not quasi-
hi8torical, is of a legendary nature, told in a distinctly
Christian spirit, which certainly is not the case in the body
of the narrative.
As to the author of the saga proper there can be no
doubt that he was an Icelander. This is the view held by
all scholars, chiefly for the reason that four (five) Icelandic
skalds are mentioned in it as having participated in the
battle in the Hjørungavåg, on the side of earl Håkon, who
*) 1. c. 59; in agreement with af Petersens, introduction to AM. 510
p. IX.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
