尼亚尔萨迦史诗

尼亚尔萨迦（冰岛语：Njáls saga；Brennu-Njáls saga），是一部13世纪的冰岛萨迦（冰岛家族萨迦），描绘了960年至1020年间的事件。《尼亚尔萨迦》是冰岛萨迦中最长，可能也是最出色的作品之一。故事情节是有血缘关系的一些人为过去受过的伤害而复仇，这既是不可推卸的责任，也是赢得荣誉的需要。作品呈现了英雄时代冰岛生活最全面的景象。整个作品的情绪是悲观主义。作品生动地描写了一批人物，从滑稽到邪恶。其中有两位英雄，巩纳尔（Gunnar Hámundarson）和尼亚尔（Njáll Þorgeirsson），前者是勇敢、诚实、慷慨的青年，后者是一个聪明、谨慎的人，并具有先知的天赋。

Njáls saga (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈnjauls ˌsaːɣa] ), also Njála ([ˈnjauːla] ), or Brennu-Njáls saga ([ˈprɛnːʏ-ˌnjauls ˌsaːɣa] , which can be translated as The Story of Burnt Njáll, or The Saga of Njáll the Burner), is a thirteenth-century Icelandic saga that describes events between 960 and 1020.

The saga deals with a process of blood feuds in the Icelandic Commonwealth, showing how the requirements of honor could lead to minor slights spiralling into destructive and prolonged bloodshed. Insults where a character's manhood is called into question are especially prominent and may reflect an author critical of an overly restrictive ideal of masculinity. Another characteristic of the narrative is the presence of omens and prophetic dreams. It is disputed whether this reflects a fatalistic outlook on the part of the author.

The principal characters in the saga are the friends Njáll Þorgeirsson, a lawyer and a sage, and Gunnar Hámundarson, a formidable warrior. Gunnar's wife, Hallgerðr langbrók, instigates a feud that leads to the death of many characters over several decades including the killing by fire of the eponymous "Burnt Njáll".

The work is anonymous, although there has been extensive speculation on the author's identity. The major events described in the saga are probably historical but the material was shaped by the author, drawing on oral tradition, according to his artistic needs. Njáls saga is the longest and most highly developed of the sagas of Icelanders. It is often considered the peak of the saga tradition.

Authorship and sources

The author of Njáls saga, like the other sagas of Icelanders, is anonymous. There are, however, several hypotheses about the saga's authorship. The oldest idea, attested in the early 17th century, is that Sæmundr fróði wrote the work. Other suggested authors include Sæmundr's sons, Jón Loftsson, Snorri Sturluson, Einarr Gilsson, Brandr Jónsson and Þorvarðr Þórarinsson.

The saga is now believed to have been composed in the period from 1270 to 1290. Among written sources which the author likely used are Laxdæla saga, Eyrbyggja saga and Ljósvetninga saga as well as the lost sagas Brjáns saga and Gauks saga Trandilssonar. However, the author probably derived the bulk of the material in the saga from oral tradition, which they manipulated for their own artistic purposes. Opinions on the historicity of the saga have varied greatly, ranging from pure fiction to nearly verbatim truth to any number of nuanced views. It can be regarded as certain that Njáll and Gunnarr were real historical people and their fateful deaths are referred to in other sources. Gabriel Turville-Petre said, "It was not the author's purpose to write a work of history, but rather to use a historical subject for an epic in prose".

Themes

Njáls saga explores the consequences of vengeance as a defence of family honor by dealing with a blood feud spanning some 50 years. The saga shows how even worthy people can destroy themselves by disputes and demonstrates the tensions in the Icelandic Commonwealth which eventually led to its destruction. Any insult to one's honor had to be revenged: sometimes this includes slights which seem trivial to modern readers. Magnus Magnusson finds it "a little pathetic, now, to read how vulnerable these men were to calls on their honour; it was fatally easy to goad them into action to avenge some suspicion of an insult".