Epic and Romance | Page 5

heroic tradition--a new heroic literature in prose
182
II
MATTER AND FORM
The Sagas are not pure fiction 184
Difficulty of giving form to genealogical details 185
Miscellaneous incidents 186
Literary value of the historical basis--the characters well known and
recognisable 187

The coherent Sagas--the tragic motive 189
Plan of Njála 190 of Laxdæla 191 of Egils Saga 192
Vápnfirðinga Saga, a story of two generations 193
Víga-Glúms Saga, a biography without tragedy 193
Reykdæla Saga 194
Grettis Saga and Gísla Saga clearly worked out 195
Passages of romance in these histories 196
Hrafnkels Saga Freysgoða, a tragic idyll, well proportioned 198
Great differences of scale among the Sagas--analogies with the heroic
poems 198
III
THE HEROIC IDEAL
Unheroic matters of fact in the Sagas 200
Heroic characters 201
Heroic rhetoric 203
Danger of exaggeration--Kjartan in Laxdæla 204
The heroic ideal not made too explicit or formal 206
IV
TRAGIC IMAGINATION
Tragic contradictions in the Sagas--Gisli, Njal 207
Fantasy 208

Laxdæla, a reduction of the story of Sigurd and Brynhild to the terms of
common life 209
Compare Ibsen's Warriors in Helgeland 209
The Sagas are a late stage in the progress of heroic literature 210
The Northern rationalism 212
Self-restraint and irony 213
The elegiac mood infrequent 215
The story of Howard of Icefirth--ironical pathos 216
The conventional Viking 218
The harmonies of Njála 219 and of Laxdæla 222
The two speeches of Gudrun 223
V
COMEDY
The Sagas not bound by solemn conventions 225
Comic humours 226
Bjorn and his wife in Njála 228
Bandamanna Saga: "The Confederates," a comedy 229
Satirical criticism of the "heroic age" 231
Tragic incidents in Bandamanna Saga 233
Neither the comedy nor tragedy of the Sagas is monotonous or abstract
234

VI
THE ART OF NARRATIVE
Organic unity of the best Sagas 235
Method of representing occurrences as they appear at the time 236
Instance from Þorgils Saga 238
Another method--the death of Kjartan as it appeared to a churl 240
Psychology (not analytical) 244
Impartiality--justice to the hero's adversaries (Færeyinga Saga) 245
VII
EPIC AND HISTORY
Form of Saga used for contemporary history in the thirteenth century
246
The historians, Ari (1067-1148) and Snorri (1178-1241) 248
The Life of King Sverre, by Abbot Karl Jónsson 249
Sturla (c. 1214-1284), his history of Iceland in his own time
(Islendinga or Sturlunga Saga) 249
The matter ready to his hand 250
Biographies incorporated in Sturlunga: Thorgils and Haflidi 252
Sturlu Saga 253
The midnight raid (A.D. 1171) 254
Lives of Bishop Gudmund, Hrafn, and Aron 256

Sturla's own work (Islendinga Saga) 257
The burning of Flugumyri 259
Traces of the heroic manner 264
The character of this history brought out by contrast with Sturla's other
work, the Life of King Hacon of Norway 267
Norwegian and Icelandic politics in the thirteenth century 267
Norway more fortunate than Iceland--the history less interesting 267
Sturla and Joinville contemporaries 269
Their methods of narrative compared 270
VIII
THE NORTHERN PROSE ROMANCES
Romantic interpolations in the Sagas--the ornamental version of
Fóstbræðra Saga 275
The secondary romantic Sagas--Frithiof 277
French romance imported (Strengleikar, Tristram's Saga, etc.) 278
Romantic Sagas made out of heroic poems (Volsunga Saga, etc.) 279
and out of authentic Sagas by repetition of common forms and motives
280
Romantic conventions in the original Sagas 280
Laxdæla and Gunnlaug's Saga--Thorstein the White 281
Thorstein Staffsmitten 282
Sagas turned into rhyming romances (Rímur) 283 and into ballads in

the Faroes 284
CHAPTER IV
THE OLD FRENCH EPIC
(CHANSONS DE GESTE)
Lateness of the extant versions 287
Competition of Epic and Romance in the twelfth century 288
Widespread influence of the Chansons de geste--a contrast to the Sagas
289
Narrative style 290
No obscurities of diction 291
The "heroic age" imperfectly represented 292 but not ignored 293
Roland--heroic idealism--France and Christendom 293
William of Orange--Aliscans 296
Rainouart--exaggeration of heroism 296
Another class of stories in the Chansons de geste, more like the Sagas
297
Raoul de Cambrai 298
Barbarism of style 299
Garin le Loherain--style clarified 300
Problems of character--Fromont 301
The story of the death of Begon 302 unlike contemporary work of the

Romantic School 304
The lament for Begon 307
Raoul and Garin contrasted with Roland 308
Comedy in French Epic--"humours" in Garin 310 in the Coronemenz
Looïs, etc. 311
Romantic additions to heroic cycles--la Prise d'Orange 313
Huon de Bordeaux--the original story grave and tragic 314 converted to
Romance 314
CHAPTER V
ROMANCE AND THE OLD FRENCH ROMANTIC SCHOOLS
Romance an element in Epic and Tragedy apart from all "romantic
schools" 321
The literary movements of the twelfth century 322
A new beginning 323
The Romantic School unromantic in its methods 324
Professional Romance 325
Characteristics of the school--courteous sentiment 328
Decorative passages--descriptions--pedantry 329
Instances from Roman de Troie 330 and from Ider, etc. 331
Romantic adventures--the "matter of Rome" and