Vergil - På verknad på Norrøn litteratur

Abstract

In his introduction the author notes the importance of Virgil as an author studied in medieval schools and points to direct and indirect references to him in Old Icelandic literature. The author argues that the links between Virgil and Old Icelandic literature would repay investigation. In the second chapter of the study the author discusses the Æneid, paying particular attention to the love story of Dido and Æneas, which was particularly influential in the middle ages. He points to the many features which the Æneid has in common with Eddic poems. In the third chapter attention is drawn to further parallels between the Æneid and Germanic and Norse poetry (the Edda, Þiðreks saga and the Nibelungenlied). The author argues that Virgil's influence is particularly discernible in a two-fold motif: (A) a woman who is deceived by her beloved and who avenges herself on him; (B) fate causing the woman to be deceived while she remains true in her love. The author then lists the parallels and differences in the treatment of each motif in classical and Old Icelandic literature. The fourth chapter discusses Old Icelandic saga writing and classical epic (epos). It begins by considering Virgil's influence on Aristotle's ideas about narrative unity and how these in turn find expression in Old Icelandic writings. He then examines how Old Icelandic saga writers treat the role of fate in the lives of characters, comparing this with the role of moira and Fatum (Fata) in classical works. He also compares stories in which divine intervention plays a part. He identifies the narrative techniques which classical and Old Icelandic literature have in common; for example, dreams, foreshadowing, character descriptions of the hero before he confronts his death, along with other elements such as prophetic irony and retardation. He points to examples of these features in Heimskringla, Sverris saga, Egils saga, Njáls saga, Laxdœla saga and Gísla saga. The author argues that saga writers derived these narrative devices from many sources, with the Æneid as one important influence. In an appendix, the author discusses the similarities between the description of Turnus's killing of Amycus and Diores in Æneid XII 509-572, and the Fóstbræðrasaga account of how Þórarinn killed Þorgeir Hávarsson. The author concludes by discussing the elements which Latin and Icelandic literature do not have in common.