Daniel Sävborg: The Formula in the Icelandic Family Saga
Lögberg
101
Fyrirlestrar Miðaldastofu Háskóla Íslands
Daniel Sävborg
The Formula in the Icelandic Family Saga
Miðvikudaginn 25. október 2017 kl. 16.30
Lögbergi 101
It is well known that Icelandic saga prose contains formulas, but very little thorough research has been devoted to them so far. The attempts to analyze them precisely as formulas have usually taken their starting point in the so-called Oral-Formulaic Theory and the theories of Milman Parry and Albert Lord. But in the Oral-Formulaic Theory, the formula as a phenomenon was closely connected with the metrical form and the rapidity of the improvized oral performance in verse, two features without relevance to the prose genre of Íslendingasögur, which stands in focus for my research. In my analysis of the saga formulas, I will rather connect with modern linguistic theory on formulaic language and to folkloristic theory on oral tradition. The lecture will discuss the function, meaning and formof the formulas in the Íslendingasögur. A selection of saga formulas will be discussed, such as X hét maðr; tókusk með þeim góðar ástir; and X vanði kvámur sínar til Y. In the lecture, I will argue that the formula use in the Íslendingasögur is of fundamental importance for the stylistic/literary character of the genre and that a lack of understanding of the saga formulas several times has led to misinterpretations of central saga episodes.
Daniel Sävborg is Professor of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Tartu since 2010; before that he held research positions at Uppsala University and Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum. He has background in studies of Classical Greek and Comparative literature and holds a Ph.D. from Stockholm University with a dissertation on grief and elegy in Eddic heroic poetry. He has published on on topics such as love and emotions in Old Norse literature, the Uppsala Edda and its relation to the other Snorra Edda versions, the supernatural in Old Norse literature, folkloristic approaches to the saga literature, courtly style vs. saga style in the riddarasögur, Old Norse and Old Swedish sources to medieval Swedish history, oral tradition behind medieval Nordic historiography, tradition and originality in the post-classical Íslendingasögur, and the importance of the conversion in Njáls saga.
Fyrirlesturinn verður fluttur á ensku og er öllum opinn.
Miðaldastofa Háskóla Íslands
The University of Iceland Centre for Medieval Studies
Daniel Sävborg is Professor of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Tartu since 2010; before that he held research positions at Uppsala University and Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum. He has background in studies of Classical Greek and Comparative literature and holds a Ph.D. from Stockholm University with a dissertation on grief and elegy in Eddic heroic poetry. He has published on on topics such as love and emotions in Old Norse literature, the Uppsala Edda and its relation to the other Snorra Edda versions, the supernatural in Old Norse literature, folkloristic approaches to the saga literature, courtly style vs. saga style in the riddarasögur, Old Norse and Old Swedish sources to medieval Swedish history, oral tradition behind medieval Nordic historiography, tradition and originality in the post-classical Íslendingasögur, and the importance of the conversion in Njáls saga.
