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.
Heather O’Donoghue is Reader in Old Norse at Oxford University. She is a regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement.
List of Illustrations. Chronology.Preface.1. Iceland.The Beginnings.Language.Cultural Heritage.Discovery and Settlement.2. The Saga.What Is a Saga?.Are Family Sagas Medieval Novels?.Are Family Sagas Chronicles of Times Past?.Three Extracts: Egils saga, Vatnsdœla saga and Laxdœla saga.3. New Knowledge and Native Traditions.Latin Learning.Eddaic and Skaldic Verse.Historical Writings.Fornaldarsögur.Riddarasögur and Rímur.4. The Politics of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature.Iceland and Scandinavian Nationalism.Old Norse-Icelandic as ‘Ancient Poetry’.Bishop Percy’s Translations.Gray’s ‘Norse Odes’.The Romantic Viking.Our Friends in the North.Old Norse-Icelandic Studies in Academia.The Debate about Saga Origins.Why is Old Norse English Literature?.Old Norse-Icelandic and English Medieval Literature.5. The Influence of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature.BlakeTolkien and Fantasy Literature.Scott, Kingsley and Haggard.Landor, Arnold and Morris.Stevenson, Hardy and Galsworthy.MacDiarmid, Mackay Brown, and Auden and MacNeice.Heaney and Muldoon.Appendix: Hrafnkell’s Saga.Glossary.Notes.Bibliography.Index
Heather O'Donoghue, Oxford) O'Donoghue, Heather (Fellow and Tutor in English Language and Medieval Literature, Fellow and Tutor in English Language and Medieval Literature, Somerville College
Kevin Crossley-Holland, Heather O'Donoghue, Oxford) O'Donoghue, Heather (Vigfusson Rausing Reader in Old-Norse Icelandic Literature in the University of Oxford and Fellow, Vigfusson Rausing Reader in Old-Norse Icelandic Literature in the University of Oxford and Fellow, Linacre College