Bróðirinn. Álfheimar 1 (2021).

Old Norse-Icelandic Literature, 2004

Based on a literary and historical perspective, this talk will explore what in actuality are the famous “Viking Sagas” in a way that is fitting both for complete newcomers and connoisseurs of Norse culture. The origin of the various subgenera of sagas such as kings’ sagas, legendary sagas and chivalric sagas will all be discussed, alongside the transmission of skaldic poetry, the historicity of saga narratives and much more. In addition, a special focus will be put on the place of supernatural and Heathen motives in this literary tradition and how much faith can modern Pagans and Heathens have in these age-old tales.

Leed Studies in English, 2015

A translation of Þjalar-Jóns saga, a neglected but highly entertaining late-medieval Icelandic romance (or Russia-oriented fornaldarsaga). Here the translation is accompanied by a short introduction which discusses some of the intertextual influences upon the text as well as taking up questions of genre and manuscript transmission.

2018

Masters Thesis: The reputation and importance of Ari hinn fróði in the development of the Icelandic literary corpus is evident and widely recognized, but nevertheless, the importance of Íslendingabók in the development of the Íslendingasögur has not been investigated in detailed. Showing the importance of the narrative structure and fundamental argumentation of Ari Þorgilsson in the genesis of an Icelandic historical ethos that allowed Icelanders to recover, reshaped and made use of their pagan ancestry is important to understand the close relation that Icelanders kept with their past in the centuries following the conversion. Thus, it will be investigated how Íslendingabók represents an emerging ethos in Icelandic scholar tradition, that re-appropriates the past as praise-worthy but looks forward to a Christian future. In Íslendingabók, Ari chose an array of historical events, that became in the Íslendingasögur creating a Christian narrative that, like the one of many Íslendigasögur, evolves from one pole towards the final resolution. Ari’s narrative gravitates around the Christian origins of the land, and its final rising of an independent Church in the land. By doing this, Ari created a new cultural ethos in Iceland, that wrote in vernacular rather than Latin, and influenced the narrative structure of the sagas while also rising the indigenous narratives to an scholar production.

Scandinavian Journal of History, 2003

2019

Scandinavian-Canadian Studies, 2019

The recent publication of Wayward Heroes, translated by Philip Roughton, marks a significant event for world literature, the first direct translation from Icelandic to English of Halldór Laxness’s masterpiece novel Gerpla. It is also a landmark event that a special volume of Scandinavian-Canadian Studies is now dedicated to criticism related to the epic novel, its formidable author, and the medieval literature from which the novel draws inspiration. Both demonstrate the continuing importance and influence of the medieval Icelandic sagas and of the works of Halldór Laxness, who notably won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955.

This article attempts to draw a parallel between the way the supernatural is used in Grettis saga to give psychological depth to the main character and Halldór Laxness's intertextual use of folklore — mostly Icelandic — to give the same kind of depth to his characters in Independent People. The results are discussed with respect to the reception of the medieval literature by twentieth-century Icelandic writers eager to adapt the saga tradition to contemporary trends in the novel. RÉSUMÉ: L'article établit un parallèle entre la façon dont le surnaturel est utilisé dans la Grettis saga pour donner une profondeur au personnage principal et le réseau d'allusions intertextuelles tissé par Halldór Laxness dans son Gens indépendants. Les résultats sont discutés dans la perspective de la réception de la littérature médiévale par les écrivains islandais du XXe siècle désireux d'adapter la tradition des sagas aux courants contemporains de l'écriture romanesque VOLUME 20 SCANDINAVIAN-CANADIAN STUDIES 2011 ÉTUDES SCANDINAVES AU CANADA

Acta Scientific Agriculture

New Norse Studies, edited by Jeffrey Turco, gathers twelve original essays engaging aspects of Old Norse–Icelandic literature that continue to kindle the scholarly imagination in the twenty-first century. The assembled authors examine the arrière-scène of saga literature; the nexus of skaldic poetry and saga narrative; medieval and post-medieval gender roles; and other manifestations of language, time, and place as preserved in Old Norse–Icelandic texts. This volume will be welcomed not only by the specialist and by scholars in adjacent fields but also by the avid general reader, drawn in ever-increasing number to the Icelandic sagas and their world. Table of Contents Preface; Jeffrey Turco, volume editor: Introduction; Andy Orchard: Hereward and Grettir: Brothers from Another Mother?; Richard L. Harris: “Jafnan segir inn ríkri ráð”: Proverbial Allusion and the Implied Proverb in Fóstbrœðra saga; Torfi H. Tulinius: Seeking Death in Njáls saga; Guðrún Nordal: Skaldic Poetics and the Making of the Sagas of Icelanders; Russell Poole: Identity Poetics among the Icelandic Skalds; Jeffrey Turco: Loki, Sneglu-Halla þáttr, and the Case for a Skaldic Prosaics; Thomas D. Hill: Beer, Vomit, Blood and Poetry: Egils saga, Chapters 44-45; Shaun F. D. Hughes: The Old Norse Exempla as Arbiters of Gender Roles in Medieval Iceland; Paul Acker: Performing Gender in the Icelandic Ballads; Joseph Harris: The Rök Inscription, Line 20; Sarah Harlan-Haughey: A Landscape of Conflict: Three Stories of the Faroe Conversions; Kirsten Wolf: Non-Basic Color Terms in Old Norse-Icelandic