110 Rezensionen search for Christian sources or allusions, but einrich Beck and Else Ebel, rather it identifi es patterns of representation editors. Studien zur Isländer- in which traditional material appears within saga: Festschrift für Rolf the context of Christian history and dogma. H Heller. Ergänzungs bände Clunies Ross then describes the further zum Reallexikon der Germanischen extensions and refi nements of this approach that have been developed by scholars such Alter tums kunde 24. Berlin: Walter de as Lars Lönnroth, Preben Meulengracht Gruyter, 2000. 335 pages. Sørensen, Ursula Dronke, Peter Dronke, and herself. As a survey paper, this essay cannot Justice is not easily done to this substantial be long enough to review the multiplicity of collection of nineteen article-length contri- evidence that supports this approach, so it butions. A comparatively detailed analytical is unlikely to change the minds of those who review may provide most assistance to pro- may not agree with it, but it is extremely spective readers, since the book itself is useful to have these insights—which have remarkably sparing on this front, offering no transformed, and continue to transform, our summaries or abstracts or introduction with understanding of Old Norse literature—pre- a synthesizing account of the chapters or sented clearly and concisely. even brief notes about the contributors. As is to be expected with a Gedenk- In what follows I shall group the chap- schrift, the scholarly quality of the essays ters thematically, and, in recognition of the varies. Among those dealing with Old Norse contributors’ own acknowledgement of the literature, however, the overall quality is honorand’s abiding interest in the inter- remarkably high, whether the interest of the pretation of sagas, I shall fi rst discuss the essay lies in the plausibility and importance chapters that centre upon saga ethics. In his of its thesis or in the thought-provoking “. . . und gut ist keines von beiden: Gedanken nature of its speculations. Unfortunately, zur Akzeptanz der Brenna in der Njáls saga” the quality of the editing leaves much to be (198–207), Harald Müller examines social desired (a problem also with Mythos und attitudes towards the practice of “burning Geschichte). Typographical errors occur in in.” Müller points out that aside from the the table of contents and in the running famous example of this motif in Njáls saga page headings as well as in the essays them- chapter 129, several secondary examples selves and are far too numerous to be listed less noticed by commentators also occur here. Also regrettable is the fact that the in the saga, not to mention the numerous essays in English do not seem to have been cases recorded in other works. Quite a few edited by a fl uent speaker of that language, of them have the status of genuine histori- for it would have been a courtesy to the cal events. And yet the contemporary law nonnative speakers writing in English if the texts proscribed burning if, for instance, language of their contributions could have implemented against people occupying a been as polished as their thinking. Regard- house that was in regular inhabitation, and less, we must be grateful to Edizioni Parnaso it must have aroused, then as now, an intrin- for sponsoring both this and the volume of sic repugnance. Müller locates the act on the Weber’s collected essays, and especially to demarcation point between law and chaos, the Gedenkschrift editors for assembling so never fully conscionable and yet unoffi - many fi ne contributions to Old Norse schol- cially available as a last resort. To enact it arship. might have entailed a potentially danger- ous acknowledgement, especially pertinent Elizabeth Ashman Rowe to the thirteenth-century families that in Müller’s opinion were instrumental in the production of Njáls saga, that hostilities had crossed that demarcation and reached the level of outright warfare. Also on the theme of warfare, Edith Marold’s “Vom Umgang mit Feinden: Zur

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Darstellung der Kämpfe in der Sverris saga” pretation von Gewalt in der Fóstbrœðra (182–97) analyses the attitudes of Sverrir saga” (25–50), evidently a “taster” from a and his opponents, as voiced in Sverris saga, much larger research program by this author, concerning what, if any, ethical constraints refuses to accept absolute doctrines. Taking are operative once hostilities have reached the case of Fóstbrœðra saga, which we can that point in a community. She notes the fairly say continues to attract attention as king’s ostensible discountenancing of much because of its problematic ethical- úspekð (a kind of “ignorant” or barbaric ity as because of its tangled redactional stupidity), torture and intimidation, and history and uncertain dating, Ebel stresses violation of sanctuary. Conversely, as she the place of this work in a developing ethi- shows, the king voices his affi rmation of grið cal and theological debate. Here he sees the and the Christian burial of fallen enemies. language and values of Christianity as open While admittedly the saga writer’s skilful to contestation and even appropriation. selectiveness in recording historical events Theodore M. Andersson’s “Character serves his patron well, Marold makes a case and Caricature in the Family Sagas” (1–10) for Sverrir’s policies and practice having gives us reason to ponder the complex been based not simply on a calculated culti- interplay between sense of ethics and sense vation of a future reputation as a good king of humour. Like Ebel, he fi nds a reference but also on a genuine moral sense, possibly point in Fóstbrœðra saga, for which he reinforced by chivalric ideals. posits an early dating. Characteristic of this The late Hermann Pálsson’s “Glæpur work, and a key infl uence on later sagas, og refsing í Hrafnkels sögu” (119–34) charac- is a mode of excess and caricature that is teristically emphasizes that the sagas were ultimately traceable to cultural ambivalence written in order to comment and provoke towards Icelandic self-assertiveness, partic- refl ection on ethical questions, not merely ularly in the political context of Norwegian for entertainment. The question is, how encroachment. Andersson fi nds humour far did the rights of chieftains in Icelandic in the “emotional minimalism” of the Njáls society extend? In Hermann’s answer, the saga account of an assailant’s reaction to protagonist has erred by exacting punish- what Henry Fielding would have called “the ment in a manner which, while no doubt information of Gunnarr’s spear.” Likewise, appropriate to kings in Norway (it is when a monomaniac Egill Skalla-Grímsson expressly prescribed in Konungs skuggsjá), reacts to his son’s death with wild excessive- can only rate as singularly inap pro pri ate ness, only to be cajoled out of it by the guile in an Icelandic magnate. He argues that of his daughter, humour may arise from the Einarr’s taking the horse cannot be con- inversion of the parent-child relationship. strued as a theft and a fortiori cannot justly We might add that when Egill threatens to be punished by death, despite Hrafnkell’s scatter his money on Þingvellir, humour may assertions. The torture and punishment be engendered by a glancing similarity to the exacted on the protagonist by Sámr are episode in Hrólfs saga kraka, where the hero therefore justifi ed, a verdict for which makes his enemies bend like pigs at Fýris- Hermann fi nds support in Rómverja saga. vellir. But the tone remains tricky to defi ne. Although Hermann carefully documents his Consider the episode where Egill dispatches case from the saga text, his explanation of his antagonist with a bite to the throat: its message comes across as legalistic rather we might suggest (with an eye to Auðunn’s than literary. It would seem better to reckon rough handling of Grettir) that this is a with some degree of ambivalence, on the not stereotypically unmanly tactic and that the unreasonable assumption that, for better literary effect is one of grotesqueness rather or for worse, overbearing and dominating than humour. attitudes in chieftains perhaps commanded A further set of chapters examines a sneaking admiration in the society that how the accounts of human relationships produced this saga. in certain sagas have been shaped by pre- By contrast, Uwe Ebel’s “Archaik oder existing literary models, and here again the Europa: Theologisches Argument und Inter- contributors make many references to the

Alvíssmál 11 (2004): 110–15 112 Rezensionen work of the honorand. Dorothee Frölich’s Christian-moralistic life-view. The arrival “Eddische Heroische Elegie und Laxdœla of Tristram impulses and story-materials saga: Bemerkungen zu einigen motivischen in Iceland is pushed back into the twelfth und formalen Verbindungslinien” (51–71) century, echoing the late Bjarni Einarsson, starts from the familiar idea that Laxdœla though (as has been characteristic of recent saga derives not merely its central group advocacy for his theories) without his pre- of characters but also many of its detailed cise cataloguing of alleged parallels. motifs from eddic poetry. Jealousy, particu- Úlfar Bragason’s “Fóstbrœðra saga: larly women’s jealousy, plays a major role in The Flateyjarbók Version” (268–74) closely driving the plot, while the men, for once, inspects this redaction in the spirit of New are essentially secondary, mere objects of Philology, for its internal logic and for the female feeling. At the same time, however, opportunity it affords us to gain insights in contrast to the heroic elegies, the saga’s into the “production process” in the saga as mode of narration affords little room for a whole. Although the Flateyjarbók manu- the expression of these intense feelings. For script exhibits a superfi cially bewildering this reason, the account in chap. 76 of the series of textual modifi cations, sometimes heroine’s long hours of praying and weeping amplifi cations and sometimes abridgements, in church appears to open up a special space Úlfar is able to point to a plausible rationale for the feelings that is unusual, if not unpar- on the part of the redactor, namely to focus alleled, in saga prose. Although translations on Óláfr helgi’s qualities as a leader of men. frequently import notions of penance and The sworn brothers are constructed as contrition into this episode, the original driven by male chauvinism and homosocial language in Frölich’s opinion focuses on desire. In a mode of interpretation broadly the emotions per se (but contrast Daniel akin to Andersson’s, Úlfar relates these Sävborg, “Kärleken i Laxdœla saga—höviskt modifi cations to a shifting of social atti- och sagatypiskt,” Alvíssmál 11, 95 n. 28). The tudes concomitant with the shifting political effect is therefore radically distinct from dynamic between Norway and Iceland. that, for example, of the fi nal episode in Anne Heinrichs’s “Gunnhild Ozurar- Grettis saga, where acts of contrition indis- dóttir und Egil Skalla-Grímsson im Kampf putably supply the central motivation. um Leben und Tod” (72–108) juxtaposes It is to this episode that Susanne three leading characters from Egils saga, Kramarz-Bein devotes her attention in “Der namely the hero himself, Ásgerðr, and Spesar þáttr der Grettis saga: Tristan-Spuren Gunnhildr. The main part of the article ana- in der Isländersaga” (152–81). She argues, in lyses in great detail the mutually destructive a richly documented article, for an under- dynamic between Egill and the queen’s standing of Spesar þáttr as an integral part of family. Heinrichs promises a psychological Grettis saga. Additionally, it should be inter- analysis but, although the name of Freud preted as a kind of “answer” to Tristrams is invoked and the author voices general saga ok Ísoddar, whose ending contempo- concurrence with Torfi Tulinius in his recent raries obviously saw as problematic, and to studies, the psychological theory employed oral and balladistic handlings of the Tristan is not specifi ed. To match the confi gura- material. As Kramarz-Bein demonstrates, tion of characters in this saga with that invoking terminology from the theory of of Gísla saga, interpreting Gunnhildr and intertextuality, certain motifs, keywords, Ásgerðr as representing a death/life polar- and stylistic traits are reiterated as a means ity, strikes me as oversimplifi ed. The key of “marking” the existence of a “dialogue” textual support, a new interpretation of the between these texts. Although such cross- ofljóst in the fi nal stanza, is questionable. referencing with the older Tristrams saga The strength of Heinrichs’s exposition lies is less salient, the þáttr nevertheless picks in incidental comments on, for instance, up on the solemn tone of the conclusion to confl icts between clan and feudal systems, that work, eschewing the levity of the ending the place of the major poems in the text, the in the later Tristrams saga ok Ísoddar and cultural status of the Norwegian skerries, thereby rejecting hedonism in favour of a the relationship between Norwegian law and

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Egils saga, and the confl icting genealogies comparisons with Grettis saga, Gísla saga, found in the various sources. A possible lost and Bárðar saga, among others. The action opportunity was to consider Gunnhildr as a of Harðar saga emerges as highly stylized, case of the powerful queen or dowager fi gure with much invocation of fate, which, how- extensively studied by recent historians. ever, turns out to have little ideological or Another set of chapters, while taking psychological content, serving largely to account of interpretive issues of the kind reinforce the structure of the narrative. already noted in this review, gives special Equally, the teller is little concerned to tie emphasis to the later reception of sagas. action to characterization. In her “Dialogizität in der Bandamanna Two further chapters look back to the saga” (301–22), Stefanie Würth observes prehistory and evolution of the saga genre. that despite agreement among scholars that Rudolf Simek’s “Gloria—Memoria—Historia: the historical focus of the saga would have Zu Berühmtheit und Erinnerung als Kern been meaningful to its thirteenth-century von Geschichtsdenken und Sagaschreibung” audience, what its appeal to subsequent (255–67) postulates that the key motivation audiences would have been is less apparent. behind the amassing of saga materials was Drawing upon Bakhtin, the author posits a the fame of particular persons or exploits. sustained dialogism that is already intrinsic Extrapolating Huizinga’s theme of the pur- to the text and is then enacted down the suit of fame back from the Renaissance to centuries through the production of numer- the Middle Ages and invoking Isidore of ous manuscript versions, which constitute a Seville and medieval historiographers, Simek rich source for reception studies and should sees all sagas, except perhaps the lygisögur, be more extensively used. Accordingly, in her as having a historical dimension. Kernels analysis she privileges the Möðruvallabók of narrative in texts such as Landnámabók version of the saga over that preserved in encapsulate the essential elements: iden- Gks 2845, arguing that the former has more tifi cation of the personage, description of resonances and responses in subsequent his or her famous deeds. At the same time, tradition than the latter. She shows from Simek admits a degree of hyperbole into analysis of Möðruvallabók that the detail of the discussion here, and his analysis of the trials and other juridical material could be semantic fi eld of the words frægr/frægð varied and “updated” considerably in ways [what is heard] might be enriched by greater that refl ect the preoccupations of different attention to more modest shades of mean- audiences at different periods. ing such as “newsworthy” and “noteworthy.” Hans Schottmann’s “Die Harðar saga Would one talk about the “fame” of Wulfstan Grímkelssonar” (231–54) also emphasizes and Ohthere, as known at Alfred’s time, or that saga tellers did not feel obliged to stick rather about the “newsworthiness” of their to historical traditions. In the case of Harðar voyages? The narrativization of some epi- saga an aura of antiquity could suffi ce, as sodes later integrated into the sagas might when the prominent structural device of most readily be explained in the same way. incremental threes is employed to conjure Alois Wolf’s “Die Skaldendichtung— up associations with the heroic age. The Wegbereiterin der Sagaprosa?” (283–300) teller allowed himself considerable discre- makes a case for regarding skaldic verse, tion in charting the outlaw hero’s career, that vehicle par excellence for fame, as sometimes blundering into anachronisms formative in the evolution of the prose that could easily have been put right by saga. Rather than “skaldic poetry,” “eddic consulting other well-known sagas. Argu- poetry,” and “saga” developing in isolation ments that the saga was assembled from from one another, in reality there must have pre-existing stories with a basis in genuinely been constant interaction, as is demon- old traditions are therefore scarcely viable. strable to some degree from the different Schottmann seeks to locate the work within texts centring upon Óláfr helgi. Here Wolf the genre of outlaw sagas (and the sagas of might have taken into account the saga of Icelanders more generally) by amassing rich Haraldr harðráði, where it can be inferred documentation from motivic and lexical from Morkinskinna and Heimskringla that

Alvíssmál 11 (2004): 110–15 114 Rezensionen all three genres contributed to the cultiva- yfi rbœtr was originally a legal term current tion of the king’s memory. Wolf builds his in Frisia and Saxony that spread into the argument by means of a series of compari- ecclesiastical language of Hamburg-Bremen. sons between Fagrskinna and Heimskringla, From there, it could well have been brought though without grounding the discussion in into Norwegian and Icelandic ecclesiasti- a systematic review of research on the rela- cal usage through missionary activities tionship between these two texts. Likewise, sponsored by the archbishopric and made he gives comparatively scant attention to sporadic incursions into the secular sagas. Morkinskinna, a text that is increasingly Wilhelm Heizmann’s equally carefully recognized as a major precursor to Snorri documented “Das ‘Geisterwort’ brúngras in in respect of source criticism as well as der Finnboga saga” (109–18) warns of the the transmission of story-material. Indeed, dangers scholars run in not checking current some skaldic verses themselves refl ect on editions, textual criticism, and lexicography the truth status of different reports in a way before engaging in interpretation. In Finn- that might well have exerted infl uence on boga saga, we are told that a man called the konungasögur. Gestr is sent out to gather a certain herb. Another set of chapters can be grouped What herb has proved diffi cult to ascertain. together as investigating specifi c philologi- Traditionally the main manuscript variant cal details. Dirk Huth’s “Der Hagbarðr des has been read as “brungras,” but in fact that Türangelpfostens—eine Anspielung in Kor- is a transcription error for “litunargras,” i.e., máks lausavísa 4” (135–51) singles out the a herb used for dyeing. Consequently, “brun- highly obscure allusion to Hagbarðr in verse gras” can be excised from the dictionaries, 4 of Kormáks saga for renewed discussion, putting closure on the lexical problem. pointing out that this hero’s melancholy Unfortunately, the problem as to realia is not story was no doubt well known in medieval so neatly solved, since the corrected reading Iceland and could have been depicted in does not particularly suit the situation in wood carvings. With the ultimate aim of vin- the plot, where the herbs are needed for a dicating Bjarni Einarsson’s conviction that woman in childbirth. Taking account of this, prose and verse form an integrated whole in Heizmann suggests adopting another manu- the saga, Huth presents a modifi ed interpre- script variant, “lausnargras.” tation of the stanza, based on Sophus Bugge. Richard Perkins’s “Potenti murmure The result is to simplify the woman-kenning verborum grandia cete maris in littora tra- but to leave not fully resolved the elements hunt” (223–30) is packed to bursting point “hjarra krapta,” two in a jumbled series of with philological data drawn from Eiríks genitive case nouns that perhaps form a saga rauða, the Gesta of Adam of Bremen, puzzle deliberately engineered by the skald. and skaldic poetry, as well as from ethno- Else Ebel’s “. . . at bjóða sætt ok yfi rbœtr: graphical sources. In an impressive piece Zur Bedeutung von yfi rbœtr in den Íslend- of comparative work, Perkins posits an inga sögur” (11–24), for its part, offers a early Scandinavian practice, thought to be carefully documented and cautious lexico- presided over by Þórr, where sympathetic graphical investigation of the semantic magic, characterized by the mumbling or development of yfi rbœtr ‘satisfaction’ in the murmuring of words, was used to attract sagas of Icelanders and other texts. On the whales ashore. basis of the attestations in Old Icelandic and Finally to mention two less substantive Norwegian, she points to the distinct possi- contributions. Ernst Walter’s “Zum Problem bility that this is not an Old West Norse legal des Christlichen in den Isländersagas” (275– term but rather an ecclesiastical term that 82) poses some general questions about the has spread to secular narrative texts. On the problem of Christian elements in the sagas other hand, the occurrence of its cognate of Icelanders and adumbrates a program in Frisian and medieval Low German laws for further collaborative research, without, discourages Ebel from drawing any defi - however, citing recent scholarship. In his nite conclusions. Riskily venturing beyond opinion, insuffi cient attention has been her discussion, one might speculate that given to the Latin materials that must have

Alvíssmál 11 (2004): 110–15 Rezensionen 115 been imported, studied, and transcribed ames E. Knirk (editor-in-chief), in Iceland in copious quantities before ver- Helle Degnbol, Bent Chr. Jacob sen, nacular texts were produced. As a specifi c Eva Rode, Christopher Sanders, instance of a possibly overlooked infl uence, J and Þorbjörg Helga dóttir. Ordbog he suggests that saga genealogies may have over det norrøne prosasprog. A had biblical models. Marina Mundt’s “Skif- tende syn på Njáls saga” (208–22) offers Dictionary of Old Norse Prose. Vol. 2, a brief survey of scholarship and opinion ban –da. 1241 columns. ONP 1–2: concerning Njáls saga, beginning with the Nøgle // Key. 190 pages. København: edition by Olaus Olavius (1772) and ter- Den arnamagnæ anske kommission, minating with Sigurður Sigurmundsson’s 2000. renewed speculation about authorship (1989). Complementing other chapters in The appearance of another volume of the this volume, she demonstrates the rich vari- ONP is an important event in Old Norse ety of approaches to this much-loved saga by studies, and the most natural reaction of a singling out various well-known examples of reviewer should be one of joy and gratitude. aesthetic, historical, sociological, juridical, Those who are familiar with the history of and theological criticism. the Oxford (or New) English Dictionary will The volume is introduced with a suc- remember that reviews of every fascicle of cinct appreciation of the honorand’s career this monumental work contained not criti- and contributions to the fi eld (particularly cism but surveys of the material published, on the lexicographical front) and rounded surprise at the resurrection of unknown off with a list of his publications. Overall, words and senses, and the impatient hope this is an attractive book with readable that the next fascicle (volume) would fonts, robust binding, and good paper stock. appear in the foreseeable future. The pres- It is a pity that more effort has not gone into ent dictionary, following upon the works bringing about uniformity in format, for of Cleasby-Vigfússon and Fritzner (Richard example in the bibliographies appended to Cleasby and Gudbrandur Vigfússon, An chapters. Numerous misprints also appear, Icelandic-English Dictionary, 2d ed. [Oxford: more than I can take space to itemize here. Clarendon Press, 1957]; Johan Fritzner, Special characters and accented letters Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog, 4th (such as ý) have sometimes failed to convert ed. [Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1972–73]), correctly from the source fi les. In English- cannot be so full of revelations, for Old and French-language text the form of the Norse has been studied quite well, but it is apostrophe is often incorrect. Material could signifi cantly more complete and representa- have been proof-read and bibliographi- tive than its famous predecessors. cal references checked more thoroughly. In volume 2, we fi nd numerous heavy- The chapter by Hermann Pálsson is evi- duty words, especially verbs, beiða, beita, dently lacking the fi nal few sentences. In benda, bíða, biðja, bregða, brenna, bresta, Andersson’s chapter the word “humor” (fi nal brjóta, búa, byrja, but also nouns: barn, sentence, 9) seems to have been erroneously baugi, bók, bréf, bróðir, brún, búnaðr, the replaced by the word “honor.” adverb braut, etc. This dictionary has In conclusion, and despite these inciden- been conceived as a lexicographical tool tal blemishes, I can confi dently say that this rather than an encyclopedia of medieval presentation truly honours its distinguished Scandinavia. As a result, one sometimes recipient by showing, implicitly as much as learns more and sometimes less from it programmatically, how his forward-looking than from Cleasby-Vigfússon and Fritzner. contributions to the interpretation of the This becomes clear from the discussion of sagas have infl uenced two generations of a “culture word” like berserkr in the ONP. scholars and remain a living part of discus- In Cleasby-Vigfússon, Guðbrandur Vigfús- sions at the present day. son speaks about the etymology of berserkr, rejects the gloss “bare-skin” (he interprets Russell Poole it as “bear-skin”), and refers to some of the

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