Háskóli Íslands Hugvísindasvið Viking and Medieval Norse Studies Punching Up – Punching Down: Humor as a Tool of Subversion in the Íslendingasögur Ritgerð til MA-prófs í Viking and Medieval Norse Studies Thomas Ireland-Delfs Kt.: 211050-2179 Leiðbeinandi: Ármann Jakobsson Maí 2020 Many thanks to the following: Marion Poilvez for the idea Yoav Tirosh for the inspiration Ármann Jakobsson for the advice Haraldur Bernharðsson & VMNS for the opportunity And, always, Orilee for the support and love © 2020 Thomas Ireland-Delfs All rights reserved Abstract Humor is, without question, an intrinsic part of the þættir and sagas of medieval Iceland. Many of the sagas and þættir have humorous moments, ranging from physical humor to ironic comments to insulting verses. The humorous incidents that are chosen by the authors of the sagas and þættir reflect both the authors’ purposes in writing the sagas and the internal condition of the characters. They may also give a clue to the state of mind of the societies in which they take place and in which they were written. This paper proposes that humorous incidents in the sagas are not random; they serve a variety of purposes. Among the purposes these incidents serve is the subversion of people’s intentions and reputations, and of corrupt institutions. Such criticism is sharpened by the use of humor. By looking at the sagas and þættir through the lens of the Aggression Theory of Humor, posed by Igor Krichtafovich, which is comprised of Superiority Theory, as explained by John Morreall; and Inferiority Theory, proposed by Robert Solomon, we can understand how the humor of the sagas and þættir can be viewed as a subversive tool. This paper will look at Brennu-Njáls saga, Ǫlkofra þáttr, Sneglu-Halla þáttr, and Kormáks saga in an effort to arrive at an understanding of the subversive humor of the medieval Icelandic saga and þættir, to gain a better knowledge of how humor works in medieval Icelandic literature in general, and to lay the groundwork for further studies in medieval Icelandic humor. Kímni er án efa mikilvægur þáttur í Íslendingasögum og Íslendingaþáttum. Í mörgum þeirra eru gamansöm andartök og geta það verið líkamleg fyndni, kaldhæðnar athugasemdir og móðgandi vísur. Segja má að þau gamansömu atvik sem rata í sögur endurspegli bæði tilgang höfundar og innra ástand persónanna. Eins veita þau innsýn í samfélagið bæði á sögutíma og ritunartíma. Í þessari ritgerð er gert ráð fyrir að gamansemi sagnanna sé engan veginn handahófskennd heldur þjóni margvíslegum tilgangi. Þar á meðal að afhjúpa og snúa á haus fyrirætlunum og heiðri manna og spilltra stofnana. Þannig getur gamansemin yddað gagnrýni. Með því að beita árásargirnikenningu Igor Krichtafovich þar sem sameinaðar eru yfirburðakenning John Morreall og minnkunarkenning Robert Solomon má varpa ljósi á það hvernig gamansemin er iðulega gagnrýnin og afhjúpandi í Íslendingasögum og Íslendingaþáttum. Í þessari rannsókn er sjónum einkum beint að Brennu-Njáls sögu, Ölkofra þætti, Sneglu- Halla þætti og Kormáks sögu til að auka skilning á gagnrýninni gamansemi í Íslendingasögum og Íslendingaþáttum en um leið til að varpa frekara ljósi á hvernig gamansemi virkar í íslenskum miðaldabókmenntum yfirleitt og leggja þar með grunn að frekari rannsóknum á íslenskum miðaldahúmor. Table of Contents Statement of Purpose 1 1. What’s So Funny 4 Superiority Theory 5 Inferiority Theory 7 Aggression Theory 9 Níð and Senna 11 Introducing Brennu-Njáls saga 14 Introducing Ǫlkofra þáttr 16 2. Punching Up - Inferiority Theory and the Sagas 18 Sǫlvi and Hallbjǫrn inn sterki 19 Hrútr’s “Big Problem” 20 Ǫlkofra þáttr - Bringing Down “The Man” 23 Sneglu-Halla þáttr -Talking Back to the King 27 Kormáks Saga -The Punches Go Both Ways 30 3. Punching Down - Superiority Theory and the Sagas 35 Sigmundr’s Slanderous Speech 35 Kári and Snorri Verses at the Alþing 40 Skarpheðinn’s sennur 44 Njáll and Skarpheðinn at the Alþing 48 4. Conclusion - Humor as a Tool of Subversion 50 Works Cited 53 Ireland-Delfs 1 Comedy is the lecherous little elf whispering in the king’s ear, always telling the truth about human behavior.1 Punching Up and Punching Down: Humor as a Tool of Subversion in the Íslendingasögur The purpose of this thesis is to explore the subject of humor as it is used in the medieval Icelandic sagas and þættir. It is obvious on the surface that the sagas have humorous moments, ranging from physical humor to ironic comments to insulting verses. My argument is that humorous incidents in the sagas are not random; they serve a purpose. The actions and emotions of the characters give the reader a more complete understanding of the characters themselves. The humorous incidents that are chosen by the authors of the sagas reflect both the authors’ purposes in writing the sagas and the internal condition of the characters. Among those purposes is the subversion of people’s intentions and reputations, and of corrupt institutions. By looking at the sagas through the lenses of two theories of humor: the Superiority Theory, as explained by John Morreall, and the Inferiority Theory, proposed by Robert Solomon, we can understand how the humor of the sagas can be viewed as a subversive tool. Further, we can begin to understand how the early medieval characters in, and high medieval audiences of, the Íslendingasögur comprehended the humor they read and heard. Comedy has a long history as a subversive activity in theater and motion pictures from Aristophanes’s “Lysistrata” to commedia dell’arte to Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator,” as well as in writing from Juvenal to Chaucer to Jonathan Swift and beyond.2 As Sheila Lintott says about humor today, the best humor is that which “punches up” at its target, 1 Mel Brooks to BBC Radio 4, 21 Sep 2017. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p05gswzx. Accessed: 27 Feb 2020. 2 See Megan LeBouef, “The Power of Ridicule. An Analysis of Satire” Senior Honors Project, University of Rhode Island, 2007; Roger J. Kreuz and Richard M. Roberts, “On Satire and Parody: the Importance of Being Ironic,” Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 8(2) (June, 1993), 97-109; and Kendra Willson, “Parody and Genre in the Sagas of the Icelanders” in Á Austrvega. Saga and East Scandinavia. Preprint papers of the 14th International Saga Conference. Uppsala 9th-15th August 2009 edited by Agneta Ney, Henrik Williams and Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist, 1039-1046. (Gävle: Gävle University Press, 2009) for discussions of satire, parody, and the distinction between the two. Ireland-Delfs 2 not down from a lofty place.3 This tradition is not lacking in medieval Icelandic literature. As Albrecht Classen explains, sarcasm, once thought of as having its beginning in the fifteenth century, is present in continental humor from the eleventh century on.4 If there, why not in Icelandic literature as well? We can look at any number of þættir, sagas, and poems from medieval Iceland which seek to deflate men’s egos or society’s evils. More serious sagas also contain incidents of subversive humor. The presence of comedy in serious literature is widely recognized. Shakespeare certainly uses comic interludes within his tragedies: The insertion of comic moments into dramatic passages is reminiscent of a technique used in Shakespearian drama. Such scenes may have three effects on the audience: (I) Comic passages that in effect are comic; (II) Comic passages that, through contrast with their tragic setting, are, in effect, tragic or pathetic; and (III) Comic passages that, by relieving the tension, contribute to the tragic effect of the passages that follow.5 According to Preben Meulengracht Sørensen, a similar situation exists in Fóstbræðra saga. In his 1993 essay, he says, “a scene of low comedy [is] inserted in one of [Fóstbræðra saga’s] best-told and dramatic passages … [as] a comic counter-point to the hero’s achievement.”6 The author chooses which material to insert and where. Whether the originator of the insertion is the thirteenth-century author or the eleventh- or twelfth-century storyteller, the brief stories in Brennu-Njáls saga serve as comic counter-points, as well as stress-relievers, giving the audience a brief pause from the building tension. This paper will consider the humor of subversion, as well as the many forms these subversive incidents take. For example, the use of níð and senna, as well as aggressive humor, brings an added dimension to the Íslendingasögur. It will look at Brennu-Njáls saga in particular: the subversion of the hyper-masculinity of Hrútr, the use of níð in an attempt to subvert Njáll and his sons, and the mockery of the goðar by Sǫlvi, the meat-seller, as well as 3 Sheila Lintott, ”Superiority in Humor Theory," Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 74, no. 4 (2016), 347-358: 356. 4 Albrecht Classen, “The Bitter and Biting Humor of Sarcasm in Medieval and Early Modern Literature,” Neophilologus (2017) 101: 417–437. 5 Arthur Huntington Nason, “Shakespeare’s Use of Comedy in Tragedy,” The Sewanee Review, vol. 14, No. 1 (Jan 1906), 28-37: 30. 6 Preben Meulengracht Sørensen, “On Humour, Heroes, Morality, and Anatomy in Fóstbræðra saga” in Twenty-Eight Papers Presented to Hans Bekker-Nielsen on the Occasion of His Sixtieth Birthday 28 April 1993, 395-418 (Gylling: Odense University Press, 1993), 396. Ireland-Delfs 3 the actions of Skarpheðinn to subvert the settlement over the killing of Hǫskuldr Hvítanesgoði. It will also look at Ǫlkofra þáttr, which uses humor to expose the greed of the goðar, as well as Sneglu-Halla þáttr and Kormáks saga, which both offer examples of humor of inferiority and superiority. I hope, through my thesis, to arrive at a better idea of the emotional values of the medieval Icelanders through their use of humor in the Íslendingsögur and to lay the groundwork for further studies in medieval Icelandic humor.