Thick of skull

[threemonkeys]

I have just finished Egil's Saga. It is one of the major epic Icelandic sagas set in the heyday of the Viking raiders but probably composed in the 13th century - a mixture of history and fiction. I can't say I enjoyed it, but I didn't hate it either. The translation was very competent but the saga itself is pretty dull unless you are examining it for an analysis of the lives of the Norse - well a certain class of Norse noble really. I'm interested but not that interested. It was of some interest to see how consistent this saga was with more recent fiction set during those times. It isn't hard to see where modern writers are doing their research. I think I can safely say that I have done all the Icelandic saga reading I ever need to do.

Comments

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

You've just given me an extra reason to swear by the French epics :).

Actually, they aren't nearly as dull when you get inside the mindset, but without that, they're very alien in a boring kinda way. Alien isn't supposed to mean boring, is it? :)

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is a bit alien. But it is a mindset I have been exposed enough to that I have some familiarity even if I haven't got inside it. It isn't as alien as, say, Gilgamesh and I loved that. This particular saga feels very repetitive and spends way too much time introducing its vast cast of characters. Maybe if I got far enough into the mindset I would be interested in all those character descriptions.

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

What happens is that your mind gets into that rhythm and you begin to expect certain realtionships to appear and certain positions to be filled and you feel as if the narrative is incomplete without them. The slow time contrasted with the faster time become part of experiencing the narrative, like waiting for the other shoe to drop in modern stories.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I bow to your vastly greater expertise and am just a bit afraid of you for being able to adopt that mindset. A mindset that says if you don't like the outcome then it is perfectly acceptable to just kill your opponent in a duel. Hmmm, I'm not sure I like where this line of thought is going. ;-)

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

Doctorates are time spent getting oneself into strange mindsets. I once delved deeply into epic battle scenes (that's where my odd expertise in insulting people in Old French comes from - I was analysing the structure of teh lead-up to fights) but I've never been tempted to turn the theory into practice. The worst you need to fear from me is an overabundance of enthusiasm for vendetta epics of the Old French variety, which are evil, twisted, wonderful and not nearly well enough known. If ever I write a Medieval story as a novel, that might be where I'd start, though I admit, I'm lousy at *writing* fight scenes (just good at analysing how they're put together).

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

"vendetta" is not something to worry about?! Remind me not to annoy you. :-}

I spend a good chunk of my doctorate trying to think in reciprocal space (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reciprocal_space). I'm pretty sure it isn't evil, twisted etc but it did hurt my brain.

[russellk.livejournal.com]

Ow, that hurt. I've got a reciprocal lattice growing on my face now. I have to admit, that was one of the less informative wikipedia articles I've read in a while.

And you're only just now becoming concerned about Gillian?

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

That wikipedia article manages to distill the mathematics of the concept without at any point discussing the physical meaning and application. The latter was essentially what my work was about. My supervisor had a really impressively huge beard - I never made the connection until now.

Lets just say that I know never to turn my metaphorical back on Gillian. :-)