2 - Emotive Subjectivity Egils saga Skallagrímssonar

Summary

THE APPARENT TENDENCY to reduce emotional exuberance in the Norse translations evokes questions of literary precedence and cultural conventions. As stated before, the Icelandic sagas are notorious for their lack of emotional display. The same can be said to apply to many medieval Icelandic genres, such as konungasögur (sagas of kings) and fornaldarsögur (legendary sagas). This does not imply that the sagas are void of feelings – quite the opposite, in fact, as they often describe dramatic events and the efforts of characters to come to terms with these events. Yet the objective narrative style of the sagas as a rule avoids emotive declarations or vivid (gestural or performative) exhibitions of internal emotions. When compared with romance or even with other epic genres, such as the chansons de geste, there is a distinct difference in the portrayal of emotions that is most visible in the lack of emotive vocalisation, a significantly diminished gestural behaviour and a distinct evasion of the physical display of internal emotions, particularly when it comes to male characters. How do these texts then proclaim emotional interiority in their characters and by what means does the saga author create a self that the reader can then construe as emotive?

This chapter addresses these questions and seeks to explore and establish how emotional interiority is communicated in the absence of expressive emotional performativity. The focus is on Egils saga Skallagrímssonar as a prime example of the so-called objective narrative style that is considered to be the hallmark of the saga style. The ways in which emotion is conceptualised, conveyed and configured in the text and how the author uses narrative structure, somatic indicia and expressive silence to manipulate the reader (or audience) into an empathetic stance are explored.

Emotion words and emotive evasion

The story of the Viking Egill Skalla-Grímsson relates how his father, Skalla- Grímr, and grandfather, Kveld-Úlfr, migrate to Iceland following disputes with King Haraldr hárfagri (Haraldr Fairhair). Egill is raised in Iceland and reveals a flair for poetic composition at an early age. His poetical skills will save him more than once, but they also enact a view into the fictive (and/or historical) persona of Egill.