
William Ian Miller presents a close reading of one of the best known of the Icelandic sagas, showing its moral, political, and psychological sophistication. Hrafnkel tells of a fairly simple feud in which a man rises, falls, and rises again with a vengeance, so to speak. The saga deals with complex issues with finely layered irony: who can one justifiably hit, when, and by what means? It does this with cool nuance, also taking on matters of torture and pain-infliction as a means of generating fellow-feeling. How does one measure pain and humiliation so as to get even, to get back to equal? People are forced to set prices on things we tell ourselves soporifically are priceless, such as esteem, dignity, life itself. Morality no less than legal remedy involves price-setting. This book flies in the face of all the previous critical literature which, with very few exceptions, imposes simplistic readings on the saga. A translation of the saga is provided as an appendix.
This book investigates the moral, political, and psychological complexities inherent in the Icelandic saga of Hrafnkel, challenging traditional interpretations of the text. William Ian Miller, a professor of law and expert in medieval Icelandic literature, utilizes the saga as a primary case study to examine the mechanics of feuding, social status, and the quantification of human dignity. He argues that the saga functions as a sophisticated exploration of how societies assign value to intangible concepts like honor and life through legal and social remedies.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Scholars and readers frequently note the provocative nature of Miller's analysis, which intentionally disrupts long-standing academic consensus regarding the saga's simplicity. Experts highlight this work as a significant contribution to the intersection of legal theory and medieval literature, noting its dense, analytical prose.
Page Count:
279
Publication Date:
2016-01-01
Publisher:
OUP Oxford
ISBN-10:
0192511483
ISBN-13:
9780192511485
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