Books chosen: Laxardala Saga, Medieval Philosophy
In general, Icelandic Sagas include supernatural occurrences and fantasy, yet they have been employed throughout history to deconstruct the contemporary reality. It is both a witness to the period that created it and a symbol that expresses the meaning of that epoch more powerfully than any record. Thus, The Saga can be used as a tool to study Icelandic culture during its pagan and early Christian periods due to the book’s use of the icelandic landscape to reflect the pattern of civil institutions such as the family and the institution of private property, despite the narrative’s use of an imaginary dimension of a larger natural context to engage the reader. This poet-author envisioned history as repeats of predetermined patterns that were heavily influenced by the religion of the day. Therefore, the sagas tell us about the actual causes of panoptical change via the use of religiously-inspired fiction.
Unlike current “high-magic” fantasy novels, these supernatural occu. rrences are often not pervasive, supernaturally powerful, or very intense. The Laxdaela Saga is not different. The Laxdaela Saga is not a work of pure fantasy, despite including the ghost of Killer-Hrapp and the Leg-curse. Biter’s In fact, it claims to adhere to historical accuracy. Nevertheless, the novel is founded in part on a number of terrible prophesies. The whole narrative may be viewed as being organized by Gest’s predictions that Gudrun would have four husbands and Olaf the Peacock’s dream that Bolli will stand atop Kjartan’s corpse covered in blood. The reader is aware of the book’s conclusion one-third of the way through (at least in broad outlines). In certain respects, the reader is able to comprehend the concept of prophecy in the Laxdaela Saga, as evidenced by a strong feeling of destiny. There are some supernatural elements to this destiny, but it is mostly determined by inexorable, natural processes. Thus, prophecy and destiny are the central themes of the work; after the tragedy has been foretold, Gudrun, Bolli, and Kjartan’s fates are sealed. Only the specifics of Kjartan and Bolli’s deaths and Gudrun’s weddings remain to be worked out.
The intellectual work of Saint Athanasius gives a logical explanation for the resurrection of Christ and the hypostatic union of Jesus Christ, that is, the unity between the completely divine aspect of Christ and his humanity (mortality). Christ, as presented in the scripture, is both perfect in his divinity and flawless in his humanity, presenting a contrast that opposes and yet resolves. The concept of the “overlay landscape” is present in the rationale that explains the paradoxes that form the foundational pillars of Christianity – why Christ chose to assume the form of a man, why with the grace of the Holy Spirit he was incarnated of the Virgin Mary, and why he suffered death, rising again, and in his resurrection revealing the truthfulness of God. As I was studying Athanasius of Alexandria and contemplating how the notion of the “overlay” landscape is portrayed in the basic features that constitute the core of Christianity, we might explore the term “landscape” in its broader definition. Landscape in the novel enables the reader to comprehend civic institutions such as family, romantic love, and the institution of private property, despite the fact that the story is woven into an imaginative dimension of a broader natural backdrop in order to interest the reader.
In his philosophical study, Athanasius examines in detail how God is different from humanity, how heaven is distinct from Earth and from hell, and how there are major points of connection between humanity and the divine. Man cannot truly fathom the majesty of God since humanity is flawed and ignorant. The intricate intricacy of God’s activity and the complexity of his presence in all things are difficult to fathom, thus the separation of two sides of the same entity is easier to comprehend, yet it imposes a full divide when only a partial division exists. The ‘matter’ that we are composed of is the ‘landscape’ in which God chose to intervene in order to bring Himself among us in order to “…renew people formed like Himself and seek out His lost sheep…” (Medieval Philosophy pg. 114). By displaying the Word of God via righteous deeds and signs, He revealed that He is the living Word of God the Father. The outcome provides a conceptual model of how novels that exploit cultural practices may be utilized as a method for learning about the contemporary world, employing the overlay environment to replicate historical events as a platform for fiction and morality. This kind of landscape narrative tends to oppose cultural dominance and colonialism by personalizing the landscape as a relationship, rather than an object, so indicating the type of environmental and social justice investigated by contemporary ecocriticism. The allusions to the fall of láf place the saga in a historical context and assist to create the appearance of historical fact, but the saga really includes a philosophy of history tied to the syncretic thought of the Middle Ages.
As shown by the time designations in the tale, the events in the saga are just relative to one another. The author employs poetic time on purpose; this time is a virtual present or everlasting time in which recurrent events may be considered to occur “at the same moment.” The occurrences in the saga and the analogously repeated case of the thirteenth century might be viewed as reenactments of the ethical code and their shared pattern of fate. This poet-author saw of history as repeats of a predetermined pattern; in his country’s history, this pattern was founded on the cultural ethos, the important core from which all else sprang. The author saw the events of then or now as occurring in illo tempore, the perpetual time of reenactment, or synchronic time. These is why publications like this might be defined as a fully laden iconographic act of cultural resistance, targeted directly against the modernizing Western propensity to transform nature into a more interiorized ‘virtual reality’ setting.