Lyric, Meaning, and Audience in the Oral Tradition of Northern Europe

Thomas A. DuBois is professor of Scandinavian studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of a number of books, including Nordic Religions in the Viking Age.

"In his ground-breaking book, Thomas DuBois draws on studies in oral tradition and on literary approaches to make the case for a European lyric mode of wide-ranging breath. Students of medieval studies, literary studies, and folklore all will benefit from his work." —John Miles Foley, Center for Studies in Oral Tradition, University of Missouri"Thomas DuBois's new book demonstrates an extraordinary range of languages and cultural traditions and should appeal to a correspondingly broad readership. He writes, too, for Everyman—a skillful elucidator of lyric in the clothing of a theory-oriented folklorist. DuBois's schema for tracking the various forms of reception and how they govern 'meaning,' especially in performed literature, is comprehensive, but the lover of individual poems will not find that they have been sacrificed to theory." —Joseph Harris, Francis Lee Higginson Professor of English Literature and Professor of Folklore, Harvard University". . . DuBois provides an interesting approach to the interpretation of folk songs from Northern Europe by establishing various axes that enable the reader to analyze the meaning and significance of these songs through various frames." —Western Folklore". . . this book studies lyric song in the literature of northern European countries from Iceland to Finland. DuBois presents theory in the introduction; the six subsequent chapters take up subjects ranging from medieval religious lyric and lyric within the medieval epic tradition of Iceland, England, Ireland, and Wales to song in Shakespeare and songs of a living Irish singer from County Meath. This is a deep, penetrating exploration, and the range is extraordinary . . . Scholars and musicians alike will find this book a treasure trove." —Choice"Having so much comparative material under one cover is no small merit, and from this point of view the book will be of use to students of oral literature and its offshoots. In his ability to read and enjoy texts in so many extremely difficult languages DuBois may have no rivals." —Journal of English and Germanic Philology