We begin the new year with a saga that has been compared to the works of Shakespeare himself. Not necessarily in a favorable light, but definitely compared. As we hinted in our 10th Anniversary episode, we're jumping into the sagas of Eyjafjörður in Northern Iceland (including Svarfdæla saga, Valla-Ljóts saga, Víga-Glúms saga, and Ljósvetninga saga).
Up first is Svarfdæla saga, a surprisingly compelling (but sometimes frustrating) narrative that Jónas Kristjánsson described as "one of the greatest oddities among the sagas of Icelanders" in his book Eddas and Sagas (244). And if that doesn't sell you on it, then how about this fine quote from Fredrik Heinemann from his paper "Svarfdæla saga: The Norwegians and the Swedes," the saga efficiently characterizes minor and major figures with the deft brush strokes of saga writing at its best" (237). We think you'll agree after listening to this episode covering the first six chapters of the saga.
In this episode, we meet two brothers called Thorolf and Thorstein. One is a typical saga golden boy, the other is a kolbítr. But if you know your saga tropes, you know that big things are in store for that lazy coal-eater.
Along the way, we talk about other brothers we've met in the sagas, the sudden appearance of a castle in the narrative, and one of the more unbelievable candidates for Best Bloodshed we've seen in a while. We also get back to the listener runesack to address a question from our Discord page about Viking weddings.
There's all that and more in our first episode of 2024. It's good to be back!
If you're interested in doing your own word usage research, check out The Dictionary of Old Norse Prose.
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Music Credits
Intro Music - "Prelude and Action" by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Outro Music - "Stormfront" by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Episode 22b - The Saga of the People of Vopnafjord
Episode 22a - The Saga of the People of Vopnafjord
Episode 21 - The Saga of Thorstein the White
Saga Brief 8 - Interview with Dr. Ragnhild Ljosland on the History of Runes
Episode 20l - Njal's Saga (Judgments)
Episode 20k - Njal's Saga (Part 11)
Episode 20j - Njal's Saga (Part 10)
Episode 20i - Njal's Saga (Part 9)
Episode 20h - Njal's Saga (Part 8)
Saga Brief 7 - The Conversion of Iceland (Part 2)
Saga Brief 6 - The Conversion of Iceland (Part 1)
Episode 20g - Njal's Saga (Part 7)
Episode 20F - Njal's Saga (Part 6)
Episode 20e - Njal's Saga (Part 5)
Episode 20d - Njal's Saga (Part 4)
Episode 20c - Njal's Saga (Part 3)
Episode 20b - Njal's Saga (Part 2)
Episode 20a - Njal's Saga (Part 1)
Episode 19c - The Saga of the People of Reykjadal and Killer-Skuta (Judgments)
Episode 19b - The Saga of the People of Reykjadal and Killer-Skuta (Part 2)
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