"In the past few decades, interest in the rich and varied literature of early Scandinavia has prompted a corresponding interest in its background: its origins, social and historical context, and relationship to other medieval literatures. Until the 1980s, however, there was a distinct lack of scholarship in English that synthesized the critical trends and thinking in the field, so in 1985 Carol J. Clover and John Lindow brought together several of the most distinguished Old Norse scholars to contribute essays for a collection that would finally provide a comprehensive guide to the major genres of Old Norse-Icelandic literature." "The contributors summarize and comment on scholarly work in the major branches of the field: eddic and skaldic poetry, family and kings' sagas, courtly writing, and mythology. Their essays, each with a full bibliography, make up this vital survey of Old Norse literature in English - a basic reference work that has stimulated much research and helped to open up the field to a wider academic readership." "This volume has become an essential text for instructors, and now, twenty years after its first appearance, it is being republished as part of the Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching (MART) series with a new preface that discusses more recent contributions to the field."

From runic inscriptions to sagas, this book introduces readers to the colourful world of Old Norse-Icelandic literature. An introduction to the colourful world of Old Norse-Icelandic literature. Covers mythology and family sagas, as well as less well-known areas, such as oral story-telling, Eddaic verse and skaldic verse. An introduction helps readers to appreciate the language and culture of the first settlers in Iceland. Looks at the reception of Old-Norse-Icelandic literature over the ages, as views of the vikings have changed. Shows how a whole range of authors from Shakespeare to Seamus Heaney have been influenced by Old Norse-Icelandic literature.

The current revival of interest in the rich and varied literature of early Scandinavia has prompted a corresponding interest in its background: its origins, social and historical context, and relationship to other medieval literatures. Even readers with a knowledge of Old Norse and Icelandic have found these subjects difficult to pursue, however, for up-to-date reference works in any language are few and none exist in English. To fill the gap, six distinguished scholars have contributed ambitious new essays to this volume. The contributors summarize and comment on scholarly work in the major branches of the field: Eddie and skaldic poetry, family and kings' sagas, courtly writing, and mythology. Taken together, their judicious and attractively written essays-each with a full bibliography-make up the first book-length survey of Old Norse literature in English and a basic reference work that will stimulate research in these areas and help to open up the field to a wider academic readership.

This major survey of Old Norse-Icelandic literature and culturedemonstrates the remarkable continuity of Icelandic language andculture from medieval to modern times. Comprises 29 chapters written by leading scholars in thefield Reflects current debates among Old Norse-Icelandicscholars Pays attention to previously neglected areas of study, such asthe sagas of Icelandic bishops and the fantasy sagas Looks at the ways Old Norse-Icelandic literature is used bymodern writers, artists and film directors, both within and outsideScandinavia Sets Old Norse-Icelandic language and literature in its widercultural context

Maríu saga, the Old Norse-Icelandic life of the Virgin Mary, survives in nineteen manuscripts. While the 1871 edition of the saga provides two versions based on multiple manuscripts and prints significant variants in the notes, it does not preserve the literary and social contexts of those manuscripts. In the extant manuscripts Maríu saga rarely exists in the codex by itself. This study restores the saga to its manuscript contexts in order to better understand the meaning of the text within its manuscript matrix, why it was copied in the specific manuscripts it was, and how it was read and used by the different communities that preserved the manuscripts.

From runic inscriptions to sagas, this book introduces readers to the colourful world of Old Norse-Icelandic literature. An introduction to the colourful world of Old Norse-Icelandic literature. Covers mythology and family sagas, as well as less well-known areas, such as oral story-telling, Eddaic verse and skaldic verse. An introduction helps readers to appreciate the language and culture of the first settlers in Iceland. Looks at the reception of Old-Norse-Icelandic literature over the ages, as views of the vikings have changed. Shows how a whole range of authors from Shakespeare to Seamus Heaney have been influenced by Old Norse-Icelandic literature.

Kirsten Wolf's annotated bibliographical survey of doctoral dissertations written at North American institutions of higher learning, and treating topics pertaining to Old Norse-Icelandic language, literature, and culture, provides a new tool for basic research. It also offers insight into trends and tendencies in scholarship within the field of Old Norse-Icelandic in the United States and Canada from the last decades of the nineteenth century, when the first doctoral dissertations in the field appeared, to late 1995. Specifically, it demonstrates a gradual shift from studies in language and style, firmly rooted in Germanic philology, to anthropological studies and literary analyses of individual works or themes. Author, director, and institution indices appear at the end of the volume. To facilitate research, Wolf provides a subject index that includes not only titles of works and proper names but also concepts.