A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture

by McTurk, Rory

• ISBN13: 9780631235026
• ISBN10: 0631235027
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-02-04
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This major survey of Old Norse-Icelandic literature and culture demonstrates the remarkable continuity of Icelandic language and culture from medieval to modern times. Comprises 29 chapters written by leading scholars in the field Reflects current debates among Old Norse-Icelandic scholars Pays attention to previously neglected areas of study, such as the sagas of Icelandic bishops and the fantasy sagas Looks at the ways Old Norse-Icelandic literature is used by modern writers, artists and film directors, both within and outside Scandinavia Sets Old Norse-Icelandic language and literature in its wider cultural context

Author Biography

Rory McTurk is Professor of Icelandic Studies at the University of Leeds. Previously he has taught at the Universities of Lund and Copenhagen and at University College, Dublin. He is the author of Studies in Ragnars saga loðbrókar and its Major Scandinavian Analogues (1991) and Chaucer and the Norse and Celtic Worlds (2005), and has translated Kormáks saga for the Penguin Sagas of Warrior-Poets (2002).

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors	viii
Maps	xii
Introduction	1	(6)
Rory McTurk
Archaeology of Economy and Society	7	(20)
Orri Vesteinsson
Christian Biography	27	(16)
Margaret Cormack
Christian Poetry	43	(21)
Katrina Attwood
Continuity? The Icelandic Sagas in Post-Medieval Times	64	(18)
Jon Karl Helgason
Eddie Poetry	82	(19)
Terry Gunnell
Family Sagas	101	(18)
Vesteinn Olason
Geography and Travel	119	(17)
Judith Jesch
Historical Background: Iceland 870--1400	136	(19)
Helgi Porlaksson
Historiography and Pseudo-History	155	(18)
Stefanie Wurth
Language	173	(17)
Michael Barnes
Late Prose Fiction (lygisogur)	190	(15)
Matthew Driscoll
Late Secular Poetry	205	(18)
Shaun Hughes
Laws	223	(22)
Gudmund Sandvik
Jon Vioar Sigurosson
Manuscripts and Palaeography	245	(20)
Guovarour Mar Gunnlaugsson
Metre and Metrics	265	(20)
Russell Poole
Orality and Literacy in the Sagas of Icelanders	285	(17)
Gisli Sigurosson
Pagan Myth and Religion	302	(18)
Peter Orton
The Post-Medieval Reception of Old Norse and Old Icelandic Literature	320	(18)
Andrew Wawn
Prose of Christian Instruction	338	(16)
Svanhildur Oskarsdottir
Rhetoric and Style	354	(18)
Porir Oskarsson
Romance (Translated riddarasogur)	372	(16)
Jurg Glauser
Royal Biography	388	(15)
Armann Jakobsson
Runes	403	(24)
Patrick Larsson
Sagas of Contemporary History (Sturlunga saga): Texts and Research	427	(20)
Ulfar Bragason
Sagas of Icelandic Prehistory (fornaldarsogur)	447	(15)
Torfi H. Tulinius
Short Prose Narrative (pattr)	462	(17)
Elizabeth Ashman Rowe
Joseph Harris
Skaldic Poetry	479	(24)
Diana Whaley
Social Institutions	503	(15)
Gunnar Karlsson
Women in Old Norse Poetry and Sagas	518	(18)
Judy Quinn
Index	536