An Old Norse Manuscript to Die and Kill for: Víktor Arnar Ingólfsson’s Flateyjargáta

Under many respects Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson’s Flateyjargáta follows the standard pattern of crime fiction: a famous Danish philologist is found dead on one of the uninhabited islands in Breiðafjörður; an unwilling and inexperienced newly graduated notary is sent to Flatey to investigate the matter. What distinguishes this novel and makes it particularly interesting to a medievalist‘s eyes is the continuous reference to the Flateyjarbók and to the texts it contains, around which the whole plot is centered. Each chapter is, in fact, divided in two parts, one following the development of the investigation and of the events on Flatey and one describing the 14th century manuscript, its story and telling a series of significant episodes from the sagas it preserves. On the basis of this novel and of its analysis, in this article, I’ll focus on the adaptation of Medieval themes and narratives in a literary genre as popular as contemporary crime fiction.