Njáls Saga: A Critical Introduction

by Lars Lönnroth

Lars Lönnroth presents Njáls saga as, first and foremost, the product of a single talented author and storywriter. He addresses the different viewpoints that previous scholars adopted regarding the saga, and analyzes its narrative structure in order to uncover its origins. According to him, the author of Njáls saga could rely on literary building blocks familiar to medieval audiences in the North - formulas, stock scenes and characters, patterns of action etc. The rhetoric of the sagas would lend them a moral or didactic tone, and a clerical influence can be perceived in Njáls saga, which displays a more complicated style and more introspective psychological insights than other examples of the genre. Some motives that appear in the narrative - fate, divine agents, the "noble heathen" (see Lönnroth 1969) - are hallmarks of Christian influence. Lönnroth concludes that the saga was composed in a milieu where clerical and saga cultures co-existed, and intended for a mixed, albeit well informed audience. He also suggests a potential link between the author and the family of Svínafell.

275 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976