Does anyone out there remember the 1989 BBC radio dramatisation of
Brennu-Njáls saga called "The Tree of Strife"? There doesn't seem to
be that much about it on the internet, and I can't find anything to
suggest that a recording is commercially available. Hopefully one
day... Or maybe I'm just not looking in the right place. According
to this it was written by David Wade [
http://www.ellajkidd.co.uk/steaming/rdc/radio-work.htm ]. I think
this must have been my first introduction to the story, and powerful
stuff it was too. "Tree of strife" would be a possible translation
for various kennings for "man" or "warrior" [
http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/kennings/tree.html ], but the BBC
production used it differently, as a metaphor for the feud itself.
The story would have these interludes where the feud was envisioned as
a nightmarish tree of bones and blood, or something like that --
rather like the norns' loom in Darraðarljóð. The device was used to
create a doomladen atmosphere for listeners new to the tale who
wouldn't know in advance what was coming, and so to mimic the effect
of all the sinister foreshadowings and parallels that is part of the
saga style, but hard to appreciate perhaps if you are new to the genre
and the story, unsure where it's headed, and desperately trying to
keep track of all those names and relationships. It was a way of
letting the listerer know that, in spite of appearances, these
disparate events and people were all linked, and all part of the same
catastrophe in one way or another.