tag:theconversation.com,2011:/es/topics/icelandic-sagas-21879/articlesIcelandic sagas – The Conversation2017-03-30T11:22:12Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/711852017-03-30T11:22:12Z2017-03-30T11:22:12ZIn defence of the Vikings: they wouldn’t have suffered Donald Trump<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162664/original/image-20170327-3263-1dcgrq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Piotr Piatrouski / Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It has been suggested that Donald Trump “may get his assertive rather than passive manner from his alleged <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3934470/Donald-Trump-believed-direct-descendant-Rurik-Viking-established-Russian-state.html">Viking ancestors</a>”. Or so says Russian genealogist Aleksey Nilogov, who has been finding some traction for his beliefs on nationalistic eastern European news sites such as the <a href="http://www.eesti.ca/does-trump-know-he-is-a-descendant-of-a-founder-of-russian-state/article48683">Estonian World Review</a>. </p>
<p>Leaving aside the issue of genetic predispositions, as a scholar of Viking-Age Scandinavia, I take issue with this claim. The Vikings were a product of their time and – in that context – were a much less objectionable bunch than these suggestions imply. Delving into the Old Norse language helps us to better understand some of the ways that medieval Scandinavians might have viewed the <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-travel-ban-is-nothing-to-do-with-national-security-72170">overbearing</a> and <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/30/news/economy/donald-trump-economic-risk-isolationism/index.html">isolationist</a> rhetoric dominating the international stage of late. In fact, just such an analysis suggests that Trump would probably not have had a great time navigating the political intrigue presented in the Icelandic Sagas.</p>
<p>Despite popular depictions of medieval Scandinavians as gruff, aggressive raiders, the sources from medieval Scandinavia reveal a complex society possessed of nuanced understandings of morality, law and honour.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163129/original/image-20170329-1634-1gje8wh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163129/original/image-20170329-1634-1gje8wh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163129/original/image-20170329-1634-1gje8wh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163129/original/image-20170329-1634-1gje8wh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163129/original/image-20170329-1634-1gje8wh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163129/original/image-20170329-1634-1gje8wh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163129/original/image-20170329-1634-1gje8wh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thingvellir National Park – where the first Viking Icelandic parliament (althing) seated.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>An overbearing man</h2>
<p>The key to understanding these concepts in their contemporary context lies in the language of the early Scandinavian sources that survive to us. Sometimes, a single word can unlock a cluster of semantic and conceptual understandings. </p>
<p>Take, for example, the Old Norse word <em>ójafnaðarmaðr</em>. Broken into its constituent parts, the word could be rendered in English as “un-even-person”. But in the contexts of <em>Eyrbyggja saga</em>, one of the Sagas of Icelanders focusing on a locality in the north-west of the island, it’s clear that the unevenness being described is a disregard for fairness, equality, justice and the rights of others. This has led scholars to render the word as “<a href="http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/html/oi_cleasbyvigfusson/b0662.html">an overbearing man</a>”. An <em>ójafnaðarmaðr</em>, such as Styrr Þórgrímsson in <em>Eyrbyggja saga</em>, is fundamentally a social bully of the type who uses force and cunning to better their own position at the expense of those around them, save for a small group of loyal supporters drawn to their ruthless approach and success.</p>
<p>This certainly sounds like Trump’s infamous tactics: from his <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-undiplomatic-twitter-diplomacy-isnt-a-joke-its-a-catastrophic-risk-70861">Twitter tirades</a>, to his promises to bully Mexico into paying for a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-37243269">border wall</a>, even to his ludicrously <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-psychology-behind-trumps-awkward-handshake-and-how-to-beat-him-at-his-own-game-73143">alpha handshake</a>. His myopic focus on building himself up and cutting others down, even his vision of “<a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-america-first-echoes-from-1940s-59579">America first</a>”, certainly bear the hallmarks of the conduct of an <em>ójafnaðarmaðr</em>.</p>
<p>The problem is that the <em>ójafnaðarmaðr</em> was not someone to emulate or even admire in early Icelandic society, but someone to bring to heel. In the harsh, isolated climes of medieval Iceland, mutual aid from community and kinship were relied upon to rise to the challenges of the day. With no respect for reciprocity or the honour and rights of others, the <em>ójafnaðarmaðr</em> was fundamentally destructive to the fabric of their society – and their antisocial tactics, described in the sagas, tended to cut them off from their communities. </p>
<p>This most often ended up leaving them with precious few friends or allies to help when they inevitably got in over their head. This is certainly the case with Styrr, who needed to marry his daughter, who he loved more than anything, off to an old rival to help him get out of trouble with two <a href="http://www.historyextra.com/article/feature/viking-berserkers-facts-really-exist">berserkers</a> (fierce Norse warriors).</p>
<h2>Don’t bark at your guests</h2>
<p>The condemnation of tactics used by <em>ójafnaðarmaðr</em> characters is also mirrored in the Old Norse poem <em>Hávamál</em>, “Sayings of the High One” (Carolyne Larrington’s <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nBzuQZ4MCPIC&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=poetic+edda+sayings+of+the+high+one+larrington&source=bl&ots=EcdceIWM8k&sig=2Eelqvopq03vlGcAgNCPrRS0Qsg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwihzvGhi_7SAhXpDsAKHdosC7YQ6AEIPjAG#v=onepage&q=poetic%20edda%20sayings%20of%20the%20high%20one%20larrington&f=false">translation</a> quoted below). These verses conclusively deride such things as being disrespectful, overly aggressive, and lack of social engagement, even to those you might distrust. </p>
<p>In fact, <em>Hávamál</em> contains rebuttals for several of Trump’s early executive actions. As just one example, consider stanza 135 in the context of Trump’s adamant support of a travel <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38781302">ban</a> on citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations. The poem warns: “Don’t bark at your guests or drive them from your gate, treat the indigent well!” This seems to stand in stark opposition to Trump’s closed-door vision on immigration.</p>
<p>In a medieval Scandinavian context, this bullying bravado and disregard for hospitality and reciprocity was inherently isolating on a social level. And it is in relation to isolationism and responsible engagement with wider society that <em>Hávamál</em> takes a very clear stance. Stanza 50 says it best:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The fir-tree withers that stands on the farmstead,<br>
Neither bark nor needles protect it;<br>
So it is with the man whom no one loves,<br>
How should he live for long?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Clearly antisocial tendencies such as isolationism or bullying were recognised as wholly unsuitable in the societies of the medieval Scandinavian milieu. Active social engagement was incredibly important. In no place is this clearer than in the early laws of Scandinavia, where <a href="https://theconversation.com/outlaws-trolls-and-berserkers-meet-the-hero-monsters-of-the-icelandic-sagas-49463">outlawry</a> – legally imposed exclusion from the community – was considered one of the gravest punishments a criminal could endure.</p>
<p>As the world continues to shrink thanks to modern technology, these old points of wisdom are worth revisiting in the global village of today to remind us of the importance of mutual respect, collaboration, conciliation and strong social bonds with all those around us.</p>
<p>One thing is clear. Any “Viking” ancestor that might be responsible for Trump’s personality would likely not have done that well in his own time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71185/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Ruiter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Trump would not have had a great time navigating the political intrigue presented in the Icelandic Sagas.Keith Ruiter, PhD Candidate in Scandinavian Studies, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/631122016-08-14T20:15:21Z2016-08-14T20:15:21ZGuide to the classics: the Icelandic saga<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133053/original/image-20160804-12192-eox4lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Icelandic sagas are under-appreciated in the world of European literature.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Oscar Wergeland [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Iceland has been in the news quite a lot lately, mainly because of its young soccer team’s outstanding performance in the Euro 2016 football tournament. And there has also been a surge of general interest in other aspects of Icelandic culture, including <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jul/07/icelandic-book-trade-gets-a-kick-from-euro-2016">modern Icelandic literature</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133046/original/image-20160804-12192-sfdsuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133046/original/image-20160804-12192-sfdsuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133046/original/image-20160804-12192-sfdsuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133046/original/image-20160804-12192-sfdsuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133046/original/image-20160804-12192-sfdsuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=849&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133046/original/image-20160804-12192-sfdsuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133046/original/image-20160804-12192-sfdsuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133046/original/image-20160804-12192-sfdsuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Halldór Laxness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">By Nobel Foundation [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Icelanders love books, both reading and writing them, and in recent years translations of contemporary Icelandic literature have made it into bookshops and literary pages abroad in increasing numbers. Nor must we forget that in 1955 the Icelander <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1955/laxness-bio.html">Halldór Laxness</a> won the Nobel Prize for literature.</p>
<p>Back in the Middle Ages, Icelanders were great literary producers and consumers too. The term “saga” is used to refer to the new literary genre that developed in Iceland from the late 12th century up to the end of the 15th century and sometimes later than that. </p>
<p>“Saga” is an Icelandic word that means “something said, a narrative”. Originally the term is likely to have been applied to stories that were probably formed and transmitted orally. Later, they came to be recorded in writing, in hand-written manuscripts, many of which survive to the present day, though a good number have perished over the past 500 years or so.</p>
<p>In terms of its structure, the Icelandic saga is usually a prose narrative, but in many cases contains a good deal of embedded poetry. With regard to its subject-matter, the saga falls into several categories, and these allow it to be differentiated into generic sub-groups. </p>
<h2>The subjects of sagas</h2>
<p>Sagas of kings are historical biographies of the kings of Norway (and to a lesser extent, of Denmark) from prehistoric times into the 14th century. Although the antecedents of the first kings’ sagas were composed by Norwegians, Icelanders quickly became the masters of this genre, which usually contains much embedded poetry. This poetry is attributed to the court poets, or skalds, of these kings, whose compositions (mostly elaborate praise-poems) must have been passed down by word of mouth, in some cases over more than 200 years.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133051/original/image-20160804-12192-1ytm9kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133051/original/image-20160804-12192-1ytm9kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133051/original/image-20160804-12192-1ytm9kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133051/original/image-20160804-12192-1ytm9kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133051/original/image-20160804-12192-1ytm9kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133051/original/image-20160804-12192-1ytm9kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133051/original/image-20160804-12192-1ytm9kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133051/original/image-20160804-12192-1ytm9kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Icelandic saga character Hordur Grimkelsson.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">By Gilwellian (Own work) [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most Icelandic saga writing was probably considered in the Middle Ages to be a form of history rather than fiction. This does not necessarily mean that the standards of modern historiography were applied to it, but what is narrated is likely to have been considered to be within the bounds of historical probability.</p>
<p>Coleridge’s “that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, that constitutes poetic faith” might have applied in the consciousness of some audiences to some of the events and characters that appear in a sub-group of the saga that modern scholars call the fornaldarsögur (“sagas of the old time”), in which supernatural happenings abound. But other people would probably have considered such things to have been normal in the society of the pre-Christian age in Scandinavia and other prehistoric realms.</p>
<p>As for the Icelanders’ own history, that was the subject of several sub-genres of the saga, including the best-known today, the so-called “sagas of Icelanders” or “family sagas”, as they are often known in English.</p>
<p>There were also the so-called “contemporary sagas” that tell of what happened in Icelandic society during the turbulent 13th century – in the middle of which Iceland lost its political independence to Norway – and sagas of bishops and saints.</p>
<p>Furthermore, following the Norwegian king <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haakon_IV_of_Norway">Hákon Hákonarson</a>’s introduction of a programme of translating French romances into Norwegian, another type of saga, the sagas of knights, appeared, at first translating foreign romances, later, in Icelandic hands, developing indigenous romance narratives.</p>
<p>From the 18th century, when saga translations first began to appear in modern European languages, sagas of Icelanders (family sagas) in particular have attracted foreign readers. There are now many English translations to choose from, in some cases multiple versions of a single saga. </p>
<p>The most widely accessible at present are probably the most recent Penguin translations, which are new editions of a five-volume series originally published in Iceland in 1997 as <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102538.The_Complete_Sagas_of_Icelanders_Including_49_Tales?from_search=true">The Complete Sagas of Icelanders</a>. These were prepared by a number of saga scholars in collaboration with Icelandic colleagues. Increasingly, there are saga translations available on the web, though their quality is not always reliable.</p>
<p>Sagas of Icelanders are about Icelandic families whose ancestors migrated to Iceland from Norway, the British Isles and (in a few cases) other parts of Scandinavia towards the last decades of the ninth and the first three decades of the 10th century AD. </p>
<p>Some people have called Viking-Age and medieval Iceland the first post-colonial European society and there are certainly parallels to be drawn with ideas from contemporary post-colonial studies. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133049/original/image-20160804-12227-380y8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133049/original/image-20160804-12227-380y8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133049/original/image-20160804-12227-380y8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133049/original/image-20160804-12227-380y8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133049/original/image-20160804-12227-380y8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133049/original/image-20160804-12227-380y8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133049/original/image-20160804-12227-380y8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133049/original/image-20160804-12227-380y8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ingólfur Arnarson is considered the first permanent Nordic settler of Iceland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">By Johan Peter Raadsig (1806 - 1882) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Empire writing back to the motherland</h2>
<p>Icelandic saga writing can be seen in the context of the modern idea (first formulated by Australian scholars) of the empire writing back to the motherland, in this case Iceland “writing back” to Norway and to common Scandinavian oral traditions of poetry and story. In this process, medieval Icelandic authors created a new literary form.</p>
<p>The structure of saga narratives allows a number of different thematic and stylistic tropes to flourish. Many sagas of Icelanders are about feuds between families and their supporters; they give graphic accounts of fights, escapes, outlawry and reconciliation. They detail complex legal procedures that, in the absence of a police force on the island, were the individual’s main recourse to justice, but only if he had sufficiently powerful supporters. </p>
<p>Some sagas, the so-called sagas of poets, detail the love lives and stormy careers of well-known skalds, off duty in Iceland from their careers at the Norwegian court. Others are more regional histories of families from certain parts of Iceland and their struggles with neighbours and with the supernatural inhabitants of their region.</p>
<p>The saga form has often been compared to the modern literary form of the novel, but, though similarities exist, there are also important differences. Like the novel, the saga narrates a chronologically defined story, but as often as not, there is not one story, but several intertwined narratives in a saga.</p>
<p>That may sometimes be true of the novel, of course, but saga strands do not always link up to the main narrative. They may just peter out when the saga writer no longer needs a particular character or line of narration. It is common for saga authors to explain that someone or other is now “out of this saga”. </p>
<p>Unlike the novel, the saga does not normally get inside a character’s skin to reveal his or her inner thoughts or psychological motives; rather, external actions ascribed to the character reveal something of his motivation, given the small-scale society described and its conventionalised behaviour. For example, if a character puts on dark-coloured clothes (rather than neutral homespun), then you can be pretty sure something important is going to happen, usually of an aggressive nature.</p>
<h2>Narrative voice</h2>
<p>The stance of the saga’s narrating voice also differs from that of many narrative voices in the modern novel. The persona of the narrator is not omniscient, although he may reveal what the common opinion of a character or an action may be. Sometimes he will refer to dreams or what we would classify as supernatural happenings as indicators of what is likely to occur in the future or how a present action should be judged. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133056/original/image-20160804-12201-jo7bk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133056/original/image-20160804-12201-jo7bk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133056/original/image-20160804-12201-jo7bk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133056/original/image-20160804-12201-jo7bk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133056/original/image-20160804-12201-jo7bk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133056/original/image-20160804-12201-jo7bk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1104&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133056/original/image-20160804-12201-jo7bk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1104&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133056/original/image-20160804-12201-jo7bk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1104&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Njáll, the great Icelandic tribune jurist and counsellor, from The saga of Burnt Njáll.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">By Internet Archive Book Images [No restrictions], via Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An example from Brennu-Njáls saga, The saga of Burnt Njáll, regarded by many critics as the best of the Icelandic family sagas, shows how the narrative voice in a saga can be heard obliquely.</p>
<p>At a certain point in this saga, a group of men involved in a feud decide to burn Njáll and his family in their farmhouse, an act that was conventionally regarded as a heinous crime. Njáll himself, old and prescient, with an understanding of true Christian values though he lived before the conversion to Christianity, lies down with his wife under an ox hide to wait for death, saying that God “will not let us burn both in this world and the next”. </p>
<p>When, after the fire, the couple’s bodies are discovered to be uncorrupted, the audience is left to draw the conclusion (assuming a medieval understanding of the Christian religion) that God has indeed saved Njáll and his wife even though they were unbaptised. The conclusion here is, however, based upon our knowledge of how medieval Christian audiences, for whom these narratives were written, would think.</p>
<p>It is not directly stated, and quite recently an American scholar,<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24533974-why-is-your-axe-bloody"> William Ian Miller</a>, has repudiated the interpretation above for one of pragmatic realism: the couple did not burn because the ox hide protected them. </p>
<p>I think myself that Miller is wrong, and that the text contains ample clues of how the audience for which the saga was written would have understood it and how we should understand it today.</p>
<p>Although medieval Icelandic sagas are much less well known than many other classics of European literature, they richly deserve a place in the company of the best that European literature has to offer.</p>
<p>We do not know the names of their authors, and must recognise that the anonymity of those who created them has a literary point to make: sagas narrate history, and that history belongs, if not to everyone living in Iceland at the time of writing (and to their modern descendants), then to specific families and other interest groups, whose ancestors figure in their stories. The authors shaped those stories but did not distort them.</p>
<p><em>My 2010 book, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10291511-the-cambridge-introduction-to-the-old-norse-icelandic-saga">The Cambridge Introduction to the Old Norse-Icelandic saga</a>, may be of interest for readers seeking a further introduction to the sagas.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63112/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margaret Clunies Ross receives funding from
The Australian Research Council
Snorrastofa, Reykholt, Iceland</span></em></p>Family feuds, love affairs, empire writing back to the motherland - the medieval Icelandic saga have it all. Though less known than other classics of European literature they richly deserve a place among the best.Margaret Clunies Ross, Eneritus Professor of English Language and Early English Literature, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/494632015-10-22T13:11:43Z2015-10-22T13:11:43ZOutlaws, trolls and berserkers: meet the hero-monsters of the Icelandic sagas<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99228/original/image-20151021-15434-1yppstf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Íslendingasögur by Gilwellian - Árni Magnússon Institute</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“I’ve come to kill your monster!” exclaims Beowulf in the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0442933/">2007 film version</a> of <a href="http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/beowulf">the epic poem</a>. But how do his suspicious Danish hosts know that this monstrously huge stranger is actually a hero searching for glory? And, by the same token, how do modern audiences with no prior knowledge of the Marvelverse know that the Incredible Hulk is a “good guy”? At least readers of the Icelandic sagas had an advantage: they were used to their heroes being monsters – at least part of the time.</p>
<p>Iceland’s medieval literature is rich in many regards: <a href="http://www.britannica.com/topic/Edda">in Eddas</a> and sagas, it tells us about early Scandinavia and its expanding world-view, ranging from the mythology of the North, the legends and heroes of the migration age, the Viking voyages and the settlement of Iceland all the way through to the coming of Christianity and the formation of kingdoms in Scandinavia. </p>
<p>It also tell us about monsters – for the literature of medieval Iceland is also rich in the paranormal. In mythology, gods and men fight against giants. In the sagas, humans battle the forces of disorder, the trolls and revenants – think a cross between a vampire and a zombie – that inhabit the wild mountains and highlands of Norway and Iceland. Or at least that is what, on the surface, appears to happen. </p>
<h2>Trolls won’t always be trolls</h2>
<p>Monstrosity, however, is never clear-cut. Because of their hybrid nature, monsters cannot easily be categorised – instead, they demand to be approached and read in a more nuanced way. Such a reading will soon lead to the realisation that not all monsters are created equal, that they do not all pose the same threat. For trolls are not always trolls. </p>
<p>In fact, the word “troll”, which we now understand to denote some kind of mountain-dwelling ogre, was used for a number of different kinds of figures: witches, the undead, berserkers, but also people who were larger or stronger or uglier than ordinary humans. Which leads us to the monstrous heroes of the medieval Icelandic family sagas, or <em>Íslendingasögur</em>. </p>
<h2>Half monster, half hero</h2>
<p>In these texts, we encounter characters that are both troll-like monster and human hero – that both threaten and defend society and that therefore draw our attention to the fact that the boundary between monstrosity and heroism is not only thin but also regularly crossed.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99018/original/image-20151020-32247-142qcvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99018/original/image-20151020-32247-142qcvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99018/original/image-20151020-32247-142qcvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99018/original/image-20151020-32247-142qcvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99018/original/image-20151020-32247-142qcvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99018/original/image-20151020-32247-142qcvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1227&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99018/original/image-20151020-32247-142qcvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1227&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99018/original/image-20151020-32247-142qcvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1227&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Larger than life: Grettir.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While some of the creatures that are referred to as “trolls” – especially revenants, but also witches and even berserkers – are unequivocally monstrous, the characters that occupy the most ambiguous position suspended between monstrosity and heroism are outlaws. These, however, are also the characters that have captured the Icelandic imagination the most: there are three sagas that scholars agree to be major outlaw stories, the sagas of <a href="http://sagasteads.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Grettis%20saga">Grettir Ásmundarson</a>, <a href="http://sagadb.org/gisla_saga_surssonar.en">Gísli Súrsson</a>, and <a href="http://sagasteads.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Hvalfj%C3%B6r%C3%B0ur">Hörðr Grímkelsson</a>.</p>
<p>There are also some sagas that draw on similar narrative motifs to tell the story of men who are outlawed for at least parts of their lives, like the <a href="http://sagasteads.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/F%C3%B3stbr%C3%A6%C3%B0ra%20saga">saga of the Sworn Brothers</a> (<em>Fóstbræðra saga</em>) or the saga of the <a href="https://www.academia.edu/9235825/Kjalnesinga_saga_and_the_Outlaw_Saga_Tradition">people of Kjalarnes</a> (<em>Kjalnesinga saga</em>). All of these marginal heroes border not only on society, but also on that which one encounters when one leaves the social spaces behind: the monstrous.</p>
<p>This has less to do with their physical location in the “wild”, and more with the way they interact with society: when Hörðr goes raiding with his outlaw band, he becomes a threat to the local community. And such a threat to economic growth and social stability has to be removed. However, if these characters were only threatening, only monstrous, they would not have their own sagas. They are not only monsters: they are also heroes, defenders of the society they themselves threaten.</p>
<h2>Fringe dwellers</h2>
<p>The story of Grettir “the Strong” Ásmundarson is a particularly interesting example of this. In the 19 years Grettir spends as an outlaw both in Norway and Iceland, he constantly moves back and forth between human society and isolation as a “monster”, never fully belonging to either. When he steals from the local farmers or simply sits on their property and refuses to let go, he becomes a monster in the eyes of society. But when he fights against trolls and revenants, performing tasks no one else would be able to perform, he becomes a guardian of the medieval Icelandic galaxy that consists of farms and sheep.</p>
<p>In this duality, Grettir and Hörðr and other strong, troll-like men, are not too dissimilar from the monstrous heroes of the present day. Bruce Banner has clear anger management issues, but when he transforms into the Hulk, his strength enables him to perform amazing feats of heroism in defence of society. But the dual nature of his character can also make him turn against his friends and allies, just as Hörðr turns against his family when he wants to burn his own sister in her house.</p>
<p>This fluid continuity between monstrosity and heroism has been explored extensively in medieval literature: Beowulf or the <em><a href="http://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Cattle-Raid-of-Cooley">Táin Bó Cúailnge</a></em>, (the Cattle Raid of Cooley) – just like the Icelandic sagas – have their fair share of monstrous heroes. But it keeps fascinating us even today. </p>
<p>Shows such as [Heroes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_(TV_series) have added a new shade to this exploration in recent years. Currently, even the humanness of zombies is on the cultural agenda in <a href="http://warmbodiesmovie.com/">Warm Bodies</a> or <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3501584/">iZombie</a>. Let us hope that, as this exploration continues, as we become more aware of the continuity between the monstrous and the human, we will eventually realise that, often, “the other” is just another “self”.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Avengers in the North, a talk by the author on the monstrous superheroes in the Viking Age, will be part of the <a href="http://www.festivalofideas.cam.ac.uk/">Cambridge Festival of Ideas</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49463/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Merkelbach receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the University of Cambridge. </span></em></p>There are some surprising parallels between the characters in ancient Viking-era stories and modern popular culture.Rebecca Merkelbach, Doctoral Candidate, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.