|
A legendary saga or ''fornaldarsaga'' (literally, "story/history of the ancient era") is a Norse saga that, unlike the Icelanders' sagas, takes place before the colonization of Iceland.〔The article ''Fornaldarsagor'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (1991)〕 There are some exceptions, such as ''Yngvars saga víðförla'', which takes place in the 11th century. The sagas were probably all written in Iceland, from about the middle of the 13th century to about 1400, although it is possible that some may be of a later date,〔Einar Ól. Sveinsson, "Fornaldarsögur", in ''Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder fra vikingtid til reformasjonstid, bd. 4'' (Copenhagen, 1959)〕 such as ''Hrólfs saga kraka''.〔(The Literary Encyclopedia )〕 ==Description of the sagas== In terms of form, ''fornaldarsögur'' are similar to various other saga-genres, but tend towards fairly linear, episodic narratives. Like sagas in other genres, many quote verse, but in the ''fornaldarsögur'' that verse is almost invariably in the metre of Eddaic verse (unlike the skaldic verse found in most other saga genres).〔Margaret Clunies Ross, ''The Cambridge Introduction to the Old Norse-Icelandic Saga'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), p. 77.〕 The setting is primarily Scandinavia in the time prior to the settlement of Iceland and the conversion of Scandinavia, but occasionally it moves temporarily to more distant and exotic locations or has its characters encounter Christian cultures (one example of both being ''Örvar-Odds saga''). There are also very often mythological elements, such as dwarves, elves, giants and magic. In centuries past, they were considered to be reliable historic sources by Scandinavian scholars,〔 but since the 19th century, they have been considered to contain very little historic material.〔Else Mundal, "Sagalitteraturen", in Odd Einar Haugen (ed.) ''Handbok i norrøn filologi'' (Bergen, 2004)〕〔 The present consensus is that, although some of the sagas contain a small core which is not fiction, or are based on historical characters, the primary function of the legendary sagas was entertainment, and the aim of the sagas has not been to present a historically accurate tale.〔 Recently, however, it has been emphasized that the sagas are useful sources for the culture of 13th and 14th century Iceland, "in terms of the light that they can shed on the culture in which they were composed" i.e. Iceland in the later Middle Ages.〔 In the words of Margaret Clunies Ross, :The themes, characters and the whole world of the ''fornaldarsaga'' lend themselves to interpretation, not as realistic narratives, but rather as subjects dealing with deep and disturbing issues that cannot be approached from the perspective of the mundane world but must rather be enacted in a literary world in which often tabu subjects can be raised and aired, though not necessarily resolved. They may also be treated in a comic or parodic vein.〔Margaret Clunies Ross, ''The Cambridge Introduction to the Old Norse-Icelandic Saga'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), p. 80.〕 Some of the sagas are based on distant historic characters, and this is evident in cases where there are corroborating sources, such as ''Ragnars saga loðbrókar'', ''Yngvars saga víðförla'' and ''Völsunga saga''. In the case of ''Hervarar saga'', it conveys names of historical places in Ukraine during the period c. 150-450,〔Pritsak, Omeljan. (1981). ''The origin of Rus The Fornaldarsagas have great value for legend research, since they contain motifs and complexes of motifs from many types of legend of which there is otherwise no documentation in Scandinavia prior to the mid-19th century. They are also of great value for scholars studying medieval Scandinavian ballads, particularly the Faroese kvæði, which are often based on the same matters. Moreover, they are also very important for the study of Scandinavian and Germanic heroic legends together with Saxo Grammaticus' ''Gesta Danorum'' which was based on the same heroic poetry and traditions.〔 Philologists have generally held the legendary sagas in less esteem, in terms of their literary value, than the Icelanders' sagas. The content is often less realistic, the characters more two-dimensional, and the sagas often borrow themes from each other, and from folk tales.〔〔 In these aspects of style and reception, the ''fornaldarsögur'' tend to overlap with the Chivalric sagas, particularly those composed in medieval Iceland. The legendary sagas have influenced later writers, for instance the Swede Esaias Tegnér, who wrote ''Frithiof's saga'', based on the ''Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「legendary saga」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|