Description
Book SynopsisA comprehensive guide to a crucial aspect of Old Norse literature. We cannot read literary works without making use of the concept of genre. In Old Norse studies, genre has been central to the categorisation, evaluation and understanding of medieval prose and poetry alike; yet its definition has been elusive and its implications often left unexplored. This volume opens up fundamental questions about Old Norse genre in theory and in practice. It offers an extensive range of theoretical approaches, investigating and critiquing current terms and situating its arguments within early Scandinavian and Icelandic oral-literary and manuscript contexts. It maps the ways in which genre and form engage with key thematic areas within the literary corpus,noting the different kinds of impact upon the genre system brought about by conversion to Christianity, the gradual adoption of European literary models, and social and cultural changes occurring in Scandinavian society. A case-study section probes both prototypical and hard-to-define cases, demonstrating the challenges that actual texts pose to genre theory in terms of hybridity, evolution and innovation. With an annotated taxonomy of Old Norse genres and an extensive bibliography, it is an indispensable resource for contemporary Old Norse-Icelandic literary studies.
Trade Review[A]s the extensive listing of works cited indicates, consideration of genre is today a matter of interest to many leading scholars in the Old Norse field, and for anyone in that field concerned with the topic of genre this collection of essays is indeed vital reading. -- Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Assoc.
Table of ContentsIntroduction - Massimiliano Bampi and Sif Rikhardsdottir Genre - Massimiliano Bampi Hybridity - Sif Rikhardsdottir Terminology - Lukas Rösli Form - Mikael Males Orality, Textuality and Performance - Judy Quinn Manuscripts and Codicology - Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir The Body Politic - Hans Jacob Orning Geography - Dale Kedwards Time and Space - Torfi H. Tulinius Memory - Pernille Hermann The Human Condition - Stefanie Gropper God(s) - Carolyne Larrington Wisdom - Brittany Schorn Skaldic poetry - Case study: The Poetry of Torf-Einarr Rognvaldsson of Orkney - Erin Goeres Eddic poetry - Case study: Sólarljóð - Carolyne Larrington Þættir - Case study: Stjörnu-Odda draumr - Elizabeth Ashman Rowe Íslendingasogur - Case study: Vatnsdæla saga - Russell Poole Byskupasögur and heilagra manna sögur - Case study - Kevin J. Wanner Romance - Case Study - Jürg Glauser Annotated Taxonomy of Genres
