Abstract
Around the year 1060, the misbehaving Icelandic skald Sneglu-Halli arrives at the court of king Haraldr harðráði and manages to provoke the king and his fellow courtiers, yet he leaves a richer and more successful man as a result. A literary analysis of Morkinskinna’s Sneglu-Halla þáttr shows that the protagonist’s portrayal is a deliberate if somewhat exaggerated construction of how Icelanders abroad should behave, as well as which memories of the 11th century the 13th century Icelanders wished to preserve. Sneglu-Halli’s provocative behavior is seen as a positive character trait that, if pursued moderately, helps establish the uniqueness of the Icelander at court. This behavior is juxtaposed with the famous skald Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, whose undoubted success at court is downplayed in the þáttr due to his running away from his meager Icelandic beginnings. Cultural Memory studies are the key to understanding this artistic manipulation, since the way we remember the past establishes our perception of the present.[1]
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