(University of Oregon, 2020-12-08) Young, Jeremiah; Gurley, Gantt
This thesis explores the representation and testimony of trauma in the medieval Brennu-Njáls saga. Beginning with an outline of contemporary trauma studies, this thesis examines the repercussions narratives of social trauma. The chapters 100-105, the burning of Njal and Flosi’s dream show the repercussions of the conversion as affecting not only the characters in the saga, but also landscapes, supernatural events and even the text itself. Njál’s saga proves to be a exemplar of medieval trauma narrative as it displays the trauma of the characters in the tenth century, and provides a metatextual testimony of saga compiler’s own trauma stemming from the loss of the Icelandic common wealth in the thirteenth century. Njál’s saga exposes the violence of the tenth century and shows that even in the twenty-first century the reader must deal with the traumas long past.
