SCAND 50 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Hrafnkels Saga, Old Norse, Icelandic Nationalism
Document Summary
Based on real historical figures, but infused with myth and legend. Oral tradition: useful and adaptable way to convey collective memory, social cohesion, form a sense of identity, express traditional values. The teller of the saga was not bound by the exact details of a story, the best ones were exaggerated and embellished, but they still had to be credible and follow the rules of the social order. Bookprose theory: the viking sagas do not originate in oral tradition, they are literature separate from oral origins (this is wrong, it stemmed from a surge in icelandic nationalism and the desire to have its own literature) About conflict and how that conflict was resolved. Was not a lawless land, there was a surprising amount of law and order. Notable difference in iceland vs. rest of viking society - lack of kings and higher aristocrats.
