Abstrakt
Jómsvíkinga saga does not conform to the generally accepted generic classification of medieval Icelandic literature; it combines some elements of kings' sagas and legendary sagas, and even the sagas of Icelanders. This generic fluidity or "mixed modality" of the saga seems to be connected to the early date of its composition, as it is shared by other early sagas; that implies that the generic categories were not yet fully developed.
For this reason, analysis of themes and narrative strategies in these early sagas may reveal interesting ideas about how the saga genres developed as a response to the need to construct specific types of memory of the past. This approach has shaped the scholarly discussion of Jómsvíkinga saga together with Færeyinga saga, Orkneyinga saga, and Yngvars saga víðfǫrla, or alongside the legendary sagas.
However, while it has been established that Jómsvíkinga saga has a strong generic affinity with the kings' sagas, its themes and narrative strategies have been little studied in context of the kings' sagas. In this presentation, I attempt to outline the main themes that Jómsvíkinga saga shares with the kings' sagas, and I focus on the narrative techniques employed in its conceptualization of these themes.