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Durham E-Theses Engi maðr skapar sik sjálfr: Individual agency and the communal creation of outsiders in Íslendingasögur outlaw narratives WILSON, ALEXANDER,JAMES How to cite: WILSON, ALEXANDER,JAMES (2017) Engi maðr skapar sik sjálfr: Individual agency and the communal creation of outsiders in Íslendingasögur outlaw narratives, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/12627/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Engi maðr skapar sik sjálfr: Individual Agency and the Communal Creation of Outsiders in Íslendingasögur Outlaw Narratives Alexander James Wilson Abstract. This thesis examines how Íslendingasögur outlaw narratives engage with socio-political concepts of community and the individual. It demonstrates that the sagas discussed share key anxieties over the deep structural problems in society, which are shown to restrict the individual agency of their protagonists, a restriction that motivates the transgressive behaviour of these individuals. The thesis suggests that these texts force their audiences to consider how each of their protagonists, despite his desire to live on his own terms, has his life and fate primarily defined—or indeed created—by the other members of his community. The introductory chapter details important trends in literary-critical scholarship about Íslendingasögur outlaw narratives, particularly trends that have caused problems for analysis of the texts’ socio-political dimensions. Chapter two reviews the usefulness of interpreting Gísli Súrsson as a primarily anachronistic figure within his contemporary society; it argues that such an interpretation overly downplays how the society of Gísla saga is shown to be defined by conflicting systems of communal expectation, which underlie Gísli’s approach to vengeance. Chapter three discusses how Grettis saga shows that various social constructs, including outlawry, are used reductively by Grettir’s society to frame him as a figure of Otherness; it demonstrates that the text implies that society’s use of these constructs to create outsiders is a fundamentally problematic method for dealing with difficult individuals. Chapter four demonstrates how Harðar saga juxtaposes the extra-legal Hólmverjar with normative Icelandic society in order to highlight fundamental structural problems that affect both communities in their capacity to provide stable environments for their individual members. Chapter five discusses Fóstbrœðra saga’s treatment of sworn-brotherhood as a symbolically extra-legal community; it also shows how Þormóðr uses his status as an outsider to subvert familiar notions of normativity and Otherness, thereby gaining advantages in his dealings with society. – 1 – ENGI MAÐR SKAPAR SIK SJÁLFR: INDIVIDUAL AGENCY AND THE COMMUNAL CREATION OF OUTSIDERS IN ÍSLENDINGASÖGUR OUTLAW NARRATIVES ALEXANDER JAMES WILSON Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2017 Department of English Studies Durham University – 2 – CONTENTS Acknowledgements .......................................................................................... 6 1 Introduction ......................................................................... 8 1.1 Substance of the Thesis ...................................................................................... 9 1.2 Methodological Considerations ....................................................................... 11 1.3 Review of Other Relevant Scholarship ............................................................ 16 1.3.1 Politics and outlawry in the Icelandic Commonwealth. ....................................... 17 1.3.2 The ‘outlaw sagas’ as a subgenre. ....................................................................... 21 1.3.3 The depoliticisation of outlaw narratives. ............................................................ 26 1.3.4 Interpretations of difference in outlaw narratives. .............................................. 30 2 Legal Difference and Communal Expectation in Gísla saga Súrssonar .................................................... 34 2.1 Heroic Values and the Past .............................................................................. 40 2.1.1 Forn siðir and the creation of the past. ................................................................ 41 2.1.2 Gísli’s allusions: heroicization or bathos? .......................................................... 44 2.1.3 Auðr and Guðrún: allusion as warning. .............................................................. 51 2.2 The Communal Dimensions of Vengeance...................................................... 56 2.2.1 Equivalence and expectation in feud. ................................................................... 57 2.2.2 Níð, ergi, and social disruption. ........................................................................... 62 2.2.3 ‘Lumping it’: Gísli’s attempt at inaction? ............................................................ 67 2.3 Differences in Legal Thought .......................................................................... 70 2.3.1 Bǫrkr: a means to an end. .................................................................................... 71 2.3.2 Þorkell’s rejection of kinship. .............................................................................. 76 2.3.3 Þórdís: protection through the law. ..................................................................... 80 – 3 – – Contents – 3 Categorical and Societal Limitations in Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar ........................................ 86 3.1 Social Constructions of Difference .................................................................. 90 3.1.1 Deviance as social construction. .......................................................................... 91 3.1.2 The difficult child. ................................................................................................ 95 3.1.3 Different ways of dealing with outsiders. ........................................................... 100 3.1.4 Monstrousness as social construction. ............................................................... 105 3.2 The Limitations of Outlawry .......................................................................... 111 3.2.1 Categorical confusion in outlawry. .................................................................... 112 3.2.2 Relinquishing control. ........................................................................................ 116 3.2.3 Society diminishing itself. ................................................................................... 119 4 Communal Structure and Individual Agency in Harðar saga ok Hólmverja ......................................... 123 4.1 Agency and Communal Structure .................................................................. 126 4.1.1 Individual agency and communal debt. .............................................................. 127 4.1.2 Social structure and individual success. ............................................................ 131 4.1.3 Agency and communal power............................................................................. 135 4.2 The Function of the Hólmverjar ..................................................................... 140 4.2.1 The failure of normative kinship. ....................................................................... 141 4.2.2 Outsider perspectives and societal corruption. .................................................. 145 4.2.3 Exclusivity and losing control. ........................................................................... 149 4.3 A Mirror to Society ........................................................................................ 153 4.3.1 Marriage arrangements and male kinship bonds. .............................................. 154 4.3.2 Unwanted obligations in fosterage..................................................................... 158 4.3.3 Unperceived relations. ....................................................................................... 162 5 Violence, Authority, and Social Disruption in Fóstbrœðra saga ......................................................... 168 5.1 Social Disruption and Systemic Violence ...................................................... 173 5.1.1 Masculine violence in Iceland. ........................................................................... 174 5.1.2 Extra-legality and fóstbrœðralag. ...................................................................... 178 5.1.3 Systemic violence vs. social disruption. ............................................................. 182 – 4 – – Contents – 5.2 Authority and Attitudes towards Violence ..................................................... 187 5.2.1 The weakness of the chieftains. .........................................................................
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