Sturla's fingerprints in Þórðar saga kakala

Stylometric measurements of the inter- relationships of sagas in Sturlunga saga

Abstract

During the past few years, author attribution research has been gaining ground again in Iceland. The reason for this renewed interest is modern computer techno- logy that has opened up new methods in such research and made them accessible to scholars. A recent stylometric measurement of Sturla Þórðarson’s Íslendinga saga reveals that there are stylistic similarities between it and other sagas in Sturlunga saga. This result also gives reason to investigate the authorship of Sturla in Sturlunga. In this case the authorship of Þórðar saga kakala is first conducted, since it shows the strongest stylistic connection with Íslendinga saga among other sagas in Sturlunga. This study uses both stylometric and literary methods. First, a more precise stylometric measurement of the interrelationships of sagas in Sturlunga is made, that is running delta analysis (non overlapping), where 5000 word pieces are compared as independent texts. This method can identify whether one or more authors wrote a particular text. The result reveals that Sturla’s fingerprints are prominent in Þórðar saga and that it is a rather well-preserved saga in the Sturlunga-compilation. There is also an examination of the author’s characteristics feature in Þórðar saga, where the author’s working methods and narrative style are examined in the light of Sturla’s literary works and other comparative texts. The results of these observations support the results of the stylometric measurements which strongly suggest that Sturla is the author of Þórðar saga kakala.