Minor Characters in Icelandic Sagas - A Narratological Study

This book focuses on minor characters in fiction, primarily nameless and unimportant figures found within medieval Icelandic sagas but weaving in examples from Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, and the Pet Shop Boys. Jakobsson examines minor characters and their role, as well as their absence, through narratology. He also studies the sagas as literature, arguing that few elements open up sagas as much as how minor characters function.

List of contents

Unimportance.- Martin Guerre.-The Passing of Time.-Empathy.-Unimportant Task .-The Anticlimax of Anxiety .-The Magnates and the Heap.- Ill Auguries .-Back to Black .-Dogs and Norwegians .-Head Boy .-Sleepy Boy .-Fashion-Conscious Boy.-Pragmatic Boy .-The Granny and the Weed.-Commonplace Ambition.-Woman in a Hurry.-Peacemaking Woman.- Wandering Women.-Giggling Woman.-Horny Servants.-Bad Stance .-Wise Eastman .-The Game of Parliament.-Demon Boys.-There Will Be Blood.-Doppelgänger.-Tears of Contrition, Dreams of Conscience.- Existential Roshambo.-In-Text Audience.-Over.-Cool.-Hesitation.- Expansion.- Irrelevance.

About the author

Ármann Jakobsson is Professor of Old Icelandic Literature at the University of Iceland.

Summary

This book focuses on minor characters in fiction, primarily nameless and unimportant figures found within medieval Icelandic sagas but weaving in examples from Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, and the Pet Shop Boys. Jakobsson examines minor characters and their role, as well as their absence, through narratology. He also studies the sagas as literature, arguing that few elements open up sagas as much as how minor characters function.

Product details

• Authors: Ármann Jakobsson
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 30.01.2026
• EAN: 9783032111869
• ISBN: 978-3-0-3211186-9
• Illustrations: Approx. 150 p.
• Series: The New Middle Ages
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Literaturtheorie, Europa, Literatur: Geschichte und Kritik, Sagas, Narratology, Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft, Comparative Literature, European Literature, Medieval Literature, Icelandic sagas, literary characters, Icelandic Literature, Minor Characters, Supporting Characters