Clumsy Sagas: Repetitions and Loose Structure in the “Sagas of Icelanders”
https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2021-1-58-72
Abstract
This paper examines several sagas of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur) that are fully or partly based on recurring motif sequences, i.e. their narratives include repetitions of the same sequence of situations in different contexts.
Analysis shows that the function of repetitive structures can depend on their narrative environment, whether the narrative is hypotactic (tense and motivated) or paratactic (loose and episodic). Thus, while in a paratactic narrative the recurring motif sequence can help the narrator to organise his material, in a coherent hypotactic narrative it plays an aesthetic role and functions as a device for stressing the conflict. This approach can be used to differentiate Íslendingasögur in so far as structural repetition is concerned and also to shed light on the narrative art of written sagas.
About the Author
D. S. Glebova
Russian Academy of Sciences Institute for Slavic Studies; National Research University “Higher School of Economics”
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Daria S. Glebova - postgraduate student, Russian Academy of Sciences Institute for Slavic Studies; lecturer, School of Philological Studies, National Research University “Higher School of Economics”.
bld. 32 A, Leninskii Avenue, Moscow, 119991; bldg. 3, bld. 21/4, Staraya Basmannaya Street, Moscow, 105066.
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Review
For citations:
Glebova D.S. Clumsy Sagas: Repetitions and Loose Structure in the “Sagas of Icelanders”. RSUH/RGGU Bulletin: “Literary Teory. Linguistics. Cultural Studies”, Series. 2021;(1):58-72. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2021-1-58-72
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