Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 11418
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Heinrichs , Anne.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Die jüngere und die ältere Thóra: Form und Bedeutung einer Episode in Haukdœla Tháttr
  • Source: Alvíssmál 5, ( 1995): Pages 3 - 28.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Haukdaela Thattr- Thora Episode, Iceland Literature- Prose Marriage in Literature Sagas Sturla Thordarson, Author - Islendinga Saga Women in Literature
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Scandinavia
  • Century: 13
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  • Abstract: This article focuses on what I call the Thóra-episode, which ends with the betrothal of the two homonymous daughters of Guomundr gríss and Solveig Jónsdóttir to their future husbands Jón Sigmundarson and Porvaldr Gizurarson. It forms the conclusion of "Haukdoela pátir," a textual insertion into Sturla Pórðarson's "Íslendinga saga." After referring to previous scholarship, I explain that the method of my investigation is informed not by the concerns of textual criticism, but by the texts themselves. I start by describing the geneological context of the two Póras, drawing on the aettartolur of "Haukdoela páttr" and also on other sources regarding the future husbands of the sisters and the family origins of their parents. The literary interpretation of the Póra-episode contains a close analysis of the two sisters' dialogue, with special attention paid to the psychological processes behind the words. Since notions of fate are expressed thoughout the episode, there follows an attempt to distinguish the conception of fate in the thirteenth century. Birth scenes associated on the one hand with Gizurr, son of the younger Póra and Pórarinn, stepson of the elder Póra, and on the other hand with Sturla Sighvatsson and Guðmundr Arason serve to illustrate the importance of the fate concept in the compilation "Sturlunga saga." This is also evident in the presentation scene in which Porvaldr Gizurarson expects from Sturla Sighvatsson a favorable prophecy regarding his children, especially Gizurr, his son by Póra. As presentation scenes from other genres of medieval Icelandic literature are adduced, the scope of my interpretation is enlarged to include echo theory, whose principle is explained in an excursis ; it contrasts considerably with the hitherto customary assumption of unilateral literacy dependence. Comparison with the dialogue of the sisters-in-law Brynhildr and Guðrún Gjúkadóttir in "Volsonga saga" suggests that the sisters' dialogue of the Póras resonated more deeply with the collective consciousness than has previously been assumed. [Reproduced by permission of Amand Aglaster].
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  • Year of Publication: 1995.
  • Language: German
  • ISSN/ISBN: 09424555