Guðrúnarbrögð hin nýju

• The article sheds light on the connection between Icelandicliterature and legends of kings and chieftains from France, present-day Germany, andother European countries. Thus, it deals with historical figures who are connected not onlyto the protagonists of Völsunga saga but also to earlier heroic poems such as Atlakviða,the three lays of Guðrún and Guðrúnarvöt. In a broader sense, some literary figures ofthese works, such as Sigurðr Fáfnisbani, Atli Húnakonungr, Þjóðrekr (fromGuðrúnarkviða III), Jörmunrekr, and Jónakr, appear in various sources and poems of theGermanic heroic tradition. This is also the case with the heroine Guðrún Gjúkadóttir, thewife of Sigurðr Fáfnisbani, Atli, and Jónakr, who is known to us as Kriemhild from Germanicpoetry. In this article, an attempt is made to shed new light on the story of Guðrún.Special attention is given to Guðrún’s husbands, and how her different relationships bringtogether some of the leading figures from the period of the Great Migration. The articleargues that Guðrún’s role in this narrative tradition is of great importance and must beconsidered as the central connective element of the narrative units that revolve around thesubject matter of Völsunga saga.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Litteraturvetenskap (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- General Literary Studies (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Icelandic medieval poetry

Literature

Litteraturvetenskap

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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