Saga is a Scandinavian literary prose work

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In its basic interpretation, this term means a tale or a legend. Saga is a concept that generalizes literary narratives that were written down in ancient Icelandic in the 13th and 14th centuries. They tell about the Scandinavian peoples of Iceland of that period, their history and life. These works were born approximately in the period from 930 to 1030, in the scientific community called the “age of sagas.”

What does the saga mean in literary criticism and history of literature

In principle, this word could mean both written and oral work, designed accordingly. It comes from the Icelandic verb "to speak" and originally could define almost any narrative in prose. However, today this term in the history and theory of literature is still understood as a quite definite list of literary monuments relating to the corresponding period.

Principles for constructing a work

A saga is a story, clearlycorresponding to certain canons adopted for this work. Almost always, it begins by introducing the reader to the main characters. At the same time, their genealogy is described in many tribes. Sometimes the tale about the main character begins several generations before his birth and appearance (even before the time of the settlement of the Scandinavian lands).

What else is typical

Saga is always a large number of acting characters (up to a hundred and even more). Gradually, the narrative moves on to the main events described, which, in fact, are the subject of the story: strife (ancestral sagas) or reign (royal). Here, too, any event (up to receiving a wound in battle) is described in great detail and scrupulously. The saga is a strictly sustained chronology. Still quite often in such works there is the use of magic - a fantastic element. And the main character often defeats the evil berserker warrior.

Varieties

1. Sagas about ancient events tell about the myths and legends of Scandinavia: for example, "The Saga of the Velsungs".
2. King sagas tell about Norwegian and Danish kings: for example "Olav's Saga".
3. Ancestral sagas - about the life and history of the Icelandic people: for example, "The Saga of Egil".
4. There are also translated sagas, which are retellings of the legends of other nations: for example, "The Saga of the Trojans". And false sagas, and sagas about bishops, and sagas about recent events. Some of them, according to the researchers, contain a statementevents based on very real facts (for example, works about the activities of the bishops of Iceland since the year 1000).

Meaning of the word saga in fiction

In literature, this word, often used in a metaphorical and sometimes ironic context, refers to works of more modern eras, made in similar canons of biography. What does the story have in common with the Icelandic sagas: the epic and the presentation of the history of several generations at once. And some authors even include this word in the title: for example, Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga or other equally epic works by foreign and domestic writers.