Cambridge History of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature

"An in-depth, accessible history of Old Norse-Icelandic literature, this book provides analysis of all key genres in this celebrated body of writing and of their literary and historical contexts. Through essays by internationally distinguished scholars, it presents a fresh, unified, authoritative guide for specialists, students and general readers"--

List of contents

Introduction; Part I. Contexts: 1. History: Iceland from the settlement to 1400 CE Haki Antonsson; 2. Manuscripts and textual culture Emily Lethbridge; 3. Poetic language, form and metre R. D. Fulk; 4. Theoretical approaches Torfi H. Tulinius; 5. Reception Verena Höfig; 6. Landscape and material culture Jane Harrison; Part II. The Distant Past: 7. Mythological poetry Judy Quinn; 8. Heroic poetry Carolyne Larrington; 9. Fornaldarsögur Annette Lassen; Part III. The Saga Age: 10. Íslendingasögur Margaret Clunies Ross; 11. Poets' sagas Alison Finlay; 12. Prosimetrum in the Íslendingasögur Heather O'Donoghue; 13. Court poetry Diana Whaley; Part IV. The New Christian World: 14. Conversion and literature Christopher Abram; 15. Saints' lives Siân Grønlie; 16. Christian poetry Kirsten Wolf; 17. Homilies and Christian instruction Jonas Wellendorf; 18. Biskupa sögur Ásdís Egilsdóttir; Part V. Beyond Iceland: 19. Kings' sagas Erin Michelle Goeres; 20. Diaspora sagas Judith Jesch; 21. Riddarasögur Sif Ríkharðsdóttir; 22. Rímur M. J. Driscoll; Part VI. Compilations: 23. The Prose Edda Kevin J. Wanner; 24. Samtíðarsögur Ármann Jakobsson; 25. Learned literature Guðrún Nordal; 26. Grágás and the legal culture of Commonwealth Iceland William Ian Miller.

About the author

Heather O'Donoghue is Professor Emeritus of Old Norse at Linacre College, Oxford. She has published widely on the reception of Old Norse-Icelandic literature and the narratology of Old Norse sagas. She recently completed a monograph on Beowulf and is current President of the Viking Society for Northern Research.Eleanor Parker teaches medieval English literature at Brasenose College, Oxford. She is the author of Dragon Lords: The History and Legends of Viking England (2018), Conquered: The Last Children of Anglo-Saxon England (2022) and Winters in the World: A Journey Through the Anglo-Saxon Year (2022).

Summary

An in-depth, accessible history of Old Norse-Icelandic literature, this book provides analysis of all key genres in this celebrated body of writing and of their literary and historical contexts. Through essays by internationally distinguished scholars, it presents a fresh, unified, authoritative guide for specialists, students and general readers.

Foreword

An authoritative and accessible guide to Old Norse-Icelandic literature, featuring chapters from internationally distinguished scholars.

Product details

• Authors: Heather (University of Oxford) Park O''''donoghue
• Assisted by: Heather O'Donoghue (Editor), Heather (University of Oxford) O'Donoghue (Editor), O'Donoghue Heather (Editor), Eleanor Parker (Editor), Eleanor (University of Oxford) Parker (Editor), Parker Eleanor (Editor)
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 29.02.2024
• EAN: 9781108486811
• ISBN: 978-1-108-48681-1
• No. of pages: 648
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; LITERARY CRITICISM / Ancient & Classical, LITERARY CRITICISM / Reference, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Ancient & Classical, LITERARY CRITICISM / European / Scandinavian, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / European / Scandinavian, Classical texts, Literary studies: classical, early & medieval, Northern Europe, Scandinavia, Literary reference works, Icelandic, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval, Icelandic and Old Norse sagas, Old Norse