Analysis of time as a narrative category in Old Norse sagas

The aim of this thesis is to set up characteristic attributes of saga time structure and with concern to these to show how the Old Norse people understood time. Main attention is concentrated on the time structure of the family sagas. First, it is shown the principal of the dating in saga and how it differs from the principal of dating in annal and chronicle. I proceed to deal with the most common time indications to appear in saga and their role in the storytelling. The focus point of this thesis is a comparison of narrated time and time of narration. To support this intention, I use the three concepts of Gerard Genette - duration, order and frequency. Based on the duration concept, I try to investigate why extensive time leaps abound in sagas and what on the other hand appears to have been given some extra author's attention. According to the order concept, a question is discussed to what extent the saga holds the chronological composition. Within the frequency concept, it is compared how many times an event occurs to how many times it is narrated. In the following chapters the time structure of the kings'sagas and the legendary sagas is discussed. The crucial difference between the time structure of these and the structure of family saga is established. There is a conclusion to each chapter,..