The Beginning of Njáls Saga: Patterns, Laws and Authorial Milieu
The Beginning of Njáls Saga: Patterns, Laws and Authorial Milieu
Culture and languages
Society and economy
Haki Antonsson, University College London
Seminar
Date
8 Apr 2021
Time
15:00 - 17:00
Location
Zoom
Organizer
The Department of Historical Studies
Haki Antonsson, University College London
“The Beginning of Njáls Saga: Patterns, Laws and Authorial Milieu”
This presentation will focus on the opening section of Njáls saga which sets in motion this most celebrated of the Sagas of Icelanders (ĺslendinga sögur). Although the hope of throwing fresh light on these much-studied chapters, the talk will propose that progress can still be made by looking above and beyond either the nebulosity of ‘oral tradition’ or the identification of direct, unproblematic, textual influences. The study will expand on the speaker’s recent research, including his ‘The Construction of Auðunar þáttr vestfirzka: A Case of Typological Thinking in Early Old Norse Prose’, Scandinavian Studies 90:4 (2018).
Haki Antonsson is Associate Professor of Medieval Scandinavian Studies at University College London. Among his many publications is the book Damnation and Salvation in Old Norse literature, Boydell and Brewer, 2018. For further information on his publications and current research projects see: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/european-languages-culture/people/haki-antonsson
The seminar is part of a seminar series arranged by the Medieval Committee at the Faculty of Humanities.
