At konstruere historien:Brugen af fortiden som forbillede for samtiden i de islandske sagaer

• Main Author: Jørgensen, Michael Riber
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: https://vbn.aau.dk/da/publications/56fbdb05-8f62-42de-a686-16b80c8cf6f7; https://vbn.aau.dk/ws/files/209149763/Constructing_History_Collegium_Medievale_23_2010.pdf

The Icelandic sagas can be read and interpreted in many ways. This article examines the sagas both as literary expressions of a longstanding oral tradition and as part of a collective and cultural memory. The focus in the first part is on people and places in the sagas as ‘realms of memory’: things that help construct a common past and a common identity. The second part of the article explores the role of the sagas in medieval Iceland as ‘key myths’ that explain the origin and uniqueness of a society, and as moral and legal role models legitimizing the current social order.