Memory of Iron: Object Rhetoric and Collective Memory in Laxdæla saga

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article proposes the term “object rhetoric” to describe the extralinguistic capacity of material things to create meaning in the human mind. This kind of rhetoric also challenges the concepts of subject and object, or more specifically personhood and objecthood. The article explores the social utility of object rhetoric for structuring collective memory in medieval Iceland by studying the named weapons of Laxdæla saga. The first section examines several texts’ depiction of the sword Skǫfnungr to illustrate how it possesses both personhood and objecthood simultaneously. The second section situates Skǫfnungr as one of five named weapons in Laxdæla saga. The saga makes coherent rhetorical use of these objects to reshape Icelandic collective memory and thus sense of self in the face of the Norwegian annexation and other social changes in the thirteenth century.