Cultural Legacies of Old Norse Literature

Cultural Legacies of Old Norse Literature PDF Author: Dustin Geeraert
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1843846381
Category : Mythology, Norse, in literature
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
The cultural and literary legacy of medieval Iceland, with its roots in Norse heathen religion, heroic literature, and Viking Age history, is the focus of this volume. Its chapters examine the history and reception of a particular text or topic within this remarkable tradition. They treat a number of topics, including the legendary dragon-slayer Sigurd, the many personas of the mysterious god Odin, aspects of the ancient mythology of gods and giants, the early settlement of Iceland, the defiant Viking warriors known as the "Sworn Brothers", the entrepreneurial role of cloth production in medieval Scandinavia, the codicology and book history of key literary works, the many references to medieval Nordic lore in modern fiction and poetry, and the cultural position of islands such as Iceland in relation to the ebb and flow of religions, institutions and empires. Reconsidering these areas of Old Norse-Icelandic literary culture reveals the striking resilience and adaptability of its traditions, through a startling variety of transformations.

Cultural Legacies of Old Norse Literature

Cultural Legacies of Old Norse Literature PDF Author: Dustin Geeraert
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1843846381
Category : Mythology, Norse, in literature
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Get Book Here

Book Description
The cultural and literary legacy of medieval Iceland, with its roots in Norse heathen religion, heroic literature, and Viking Age history, is the focus of this volume. Its chapters examine the history and reception of a particular text or topic within this remarkable tradition. They treat a number of topics, including the legendary dragon-slayer Sigurd, the many personas of the mysterious god Odin, aspects of the ancient mythology of gods and giants, the early settlement of Iceland, the defiant Viking warriors known as the "Sworn Brothers", the entrepreneurial role of cloth production in medieval Scandinavia, the codicology and book history of key literary works, the many references to medieval Nordic lore in modern fiction and poetry, and the cultural position of islands such as Iceland in relation to the ebb and flow of religions, institutions and empires. Reconsidering these areas of Old Norse-Icelandic literary culture reveals the striking resilience and adaptability of its traditions, through a startling variety of transformations.

Discourse in Old Norse Literature

Discourse in Old Norse Literature PDF Author: Eric Shane Bryan
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1843845970
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
The vast and diverse corpus of Old Norse literature preserves the language spoken not only by the Vikings, kings, and heroes of medieval Scandinavia but also by outlaws, missionaries, and farmers. Scholars have long recognized that the wealth of verbal exchanges in Old Norse sagas presents the modern reader with the opportunity to speak face-to-face, as it were, with these great voices of the past. However, despite the importance of verbal exchanges in the sagas, there has been no book-length study of discourse in Old Norse literature since 1935. This book meets the need for such a study by offering a literary analysis based on the adjacent field of pragmatic linguistics, which recognizes that speakers often rely upon cultural, situational, and interpersonal context to communicate their meaning. The resulting, context-dependent meaning often deviates from the base semantic and syntactical components of an utterance: speakers hedge, imply, deflect to save face, or obscure meaning to damage an opponent's self-worth. Saga writers, this book argues, were masters of this type of indirectness in speech. It aims therefore to unlock the depth and subtlety of discourse in Old Norse literature and to leave readers with an understanding of how principles of pragmatics were employed throughout the sagas. A wide body of Old Norse materials is examined, including some of the best examples of Íslendingasögur (sagas of Icelanders), such as Brennu-Njáls saga, Laxdoela saga, and Gísla saga Súrssonar, while also giving due attention to Konungasögur (kings' sagas), fornaldarsögur (legendary sagas), and other literature from the medieval North. ERIC SHANE BRYAN is Associate Professor of English at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

A Critical Companion to Old Norse Literary Genre

A Critical Companion to Old Norse Literary Genre PDF Author: Massimiliano Bampi
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1843845644
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
A comprehensive guide to a crucial aspect of Old Norse literature.

Old Norse-Icelandic Philology and National Identity in the Long Nineteenth Century

Old Norse-Icelandic Philology and National Identity in the Long Nineteenth Century PDF Author: Gylfi Gunnlaugsson
Publisher: National Cultivation of Cultur
ISBN: 9789004499652
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"For centuries, the literary heritage preserved in Icelandic medieval manuscripts has played a vital role in the self-image of the Icelandic nation. From the late eighteenth century, Icelandic scholars managed to study and publish this material on their own terms. Throughout the long nineteenth century, they also started to engage in philological work. This coincided with an increasing awareness among Icelanders of a separate nationality and their growing demand for autonomy. What was the connection between these two developments? The twelve chapters in this book explore the interplay between various national discourses that characterised the scholarly reception of Icelandic heritage during the period. Contributors are: Alderik H. Blom, Clarence E. Glad, Matthew James Driscoll, Gylfi Gunnlaugsson, Simon Halink, Hjalti Snær Ægisson, Jon Gunnar Jørgensen, Annette Lassen, and Ragnheiður Mósesdóttir."--

Old Norse Religion in Long-term Perspectives

Old Norse Religion in Long-term Perspectives PDF Author: Anders Andrén
Publisher: Nordic Academic Press
ISBN: 918911681X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
The study of Old Norse Religion is a truly multidisciplinary and international field of research. The rituals, myths and narratives of pre-Christian Scandinavia are investigated and interpreted by archaeologists, historians, art historians, historians of religion as well as scholars of literature, onomastics and Scandinavian studies. For obvious reasons, these studies belong to the main curricula in Scandinavia but are also carried out at many other universities in Europe, the United States and Australia a fact that is evident to any reader of this book. In order to bring this broad and varied field of research together, an international conference on Old Norse religion was held in Lund in June 2004. About two hundred delegates from more than fifteen countries took part. The intention was to gather researchers to encourage and improve scholarly exchange and dialogue, and Old Norse religion in long-term perspectives presents a selection of the proceedings from that conference. The 75 contributions elucidate topics such as worldview and cosmology, ritual and religious practice, myth and memory as well as the reception and present-day use of Old Norse religion. The main editors of this volume have directed the multidisciplinary research project Roads to Midgard since 2000. The project is based at Lund University and funded by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation.

From Iceland to the Americas

From Iceland to the Americas PDF Author: Tim William Machan
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526128772
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
This volume investigates the reception of a small historical fact with wide-ranging social, cultural and imaginative consequences. Inspired by Leif Eiriksson’s visit to Vinland in about the year 1000, novels, poetry, history, politics, arts and crafts, comics, films and video games have all come to reflect rising interest in the medieval Norse and their North American presence. Uniquely in reception studies, From Iceland to the Americas approaches this dynamic between Nordic history and its reception by bringing together international authorities on mythology, language, film and cultural studies, as well as on the literature that has dominated critical reception. Collectively, the chapters not only explore the connections among medieval Iceland and the modern Americas, but also probe why medieval contact has become a modern cultural touchstone.

Old Norse Images of Women

Old Norse Images of Women PDF Author: Jenny Jochens
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 1512802816
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
Working from the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda, and Old Norse prose narratives and laws, Jenny Jochens argues for an underlying cultural continuum of a pagan pantheon and a set of heroic figures shared by the Germanic tribes in Europe, Britain, Scandinavia, and Iceland from A.D. 500 to 1500. Old Norse Images of Women explores the female half of this legacy, which involves images both divine and human. In a society marked by sharp gender divisions, women were frequently portrayed as one of four conventional types. The warrior woman was exemplified by the valkyrie, sheildmaiden, or maiden king. The wise woman was a prophetess or sorceress. The avenger is best seen in Gudrun, whose focus of revenge shifted from husband to brothers. Last, there were the whetters or inciters, who appear both in the Continental setting as Brynhildr and as ubiquitous figures in medieval Icelandic literature, ranging from Norwegian queens to humble milkmaids.

Masculinities in Old Norse Literature

Masculinities in Old Norse Literature PDF Author: Gareth Lloyd Evans
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1843845628
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
Compared to other areas of medieval literature, the question of masculinity in Old Norse-Icelandic literature has been understudied. This is a neglect which this volume aims to rectify. The essays collected here introduce and analyse a spectrum of masculinities, from the sagas of Icelanders, contemporary sagas, kings' sagas, legendary sagas, chivalric sagas, bishops' sagas, and eddic and skaldic verse, producing a broad and multifaceted understanding of what it means to be masculine in Old Norse-Icelandic texts. A critical introduction places the essays in their scholarly context, providing the reader with a concise orientation in gender studies and the study of masculinities in Old Norse-Icelandic literature. This book's investigation of how masculinities are constructed and challenged within a unique literature is all the more vital in the current climate, in which Old Norse sources are weaponised to support far-right agendas and racist ideologies are intertwined with images of vikings as hypermasculine. This volume counters these troubling narratives of masculinity through explorations of Old Norse literature that demonstrate how masculinity is formed, how it is linked to violence and vulnerability, how it governs men's relationships, and how toxic models of masculinity may be challenged. JESSICA HANCOCK is a Lecturer in Educational Development at City, University of London; GARETH LLOYD EVANS is Lecturer in Medieval Literature at St Hilda's College, Oxford. Contributors: sds Egilsdttir, David Ashurst, Brynja orgeirsdttir, Gareth Lloyd Evans, Oren Falk, Alison Finlay, Jessica Clare Hancock, Jhanna Katrn Fridriksdttir, Philip Lavender, Thomas Morcom, Carl Phelpstead, Matthew Roby.

The Viking Age

The Viking Age PDF Author: Angus A. Somerville
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 148757049X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 550

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Book Description
In this extensively revised third edition of The Viking Age: A Reader, Somerville and McDonald successfully bring the Vikings and their world to life for twenty-first-century students and instructors. The diversity of the Viking era is revealed through the remarkable range and variety of sources presented as well as the geographical and chronological coverage of the readings. The third edition has been reorganized into fifteen chapters. Many sources have been added, including material on gender and warrior women, and a completely new final chapter traces the continuing cultural influence of the Vikings to the present day. The use of visual material has been expanded, and updated maps illustrate historical developments throughout the Viking Age. The English translations of Norse texts, many of them new to this collection, are straightforward and easily accessible, while chapter introductions contextualize the readings.

The Vikings Reimagined

The Vikings Reimagined PDF Author: Tom Birkett
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 1501513648
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
The Vikings Reimagined explores the changing perception of Norse and Viking cultures across different cultural forms, and the complex legacy of the Vikings in the present day. Bringing together experts in literature, history and heritage engagement, this highly interdisciplinary collection aims to reconsider the impact of the discipline of Old Norse Viking Studies outside the academy and to broaden our understanding of the ways in which the material and textual remains of the Viking Age are given new meanings in the present. The diverse collection draws attention to the many roles that the Vikings play across contemporary culture: from the importance of Viking tourism, to the role of Norse sub-cultures in the formation of local and international identities. Together these collected essays challenge the academy to rethink its engagement with popular reiterations of the Vikings and to reassess the position afforded to ‘reception’ within the discipline.