Islandica – serie

Icelandic Baroque seeks to approach the writings of Hallgrimur Petursson (1614–1674), Iceland's leading devotional poet, from a new direction. Hallgrimur is best known for his Passiusalmar, fifty hymns that contemplate the crucifixion and death of Christ, using a variety of meters and melodies; they have been sung in Iceland over Lent for many generations. This book offers a new evaluation of his poetry.

First, seventeenth-century Icelandic literature in general, and Hallgrimur's works in particular, are set in the wider context of contemporary European literature, particularly from Scandinavia and Germany. Second, the influence of the poet's social milieu, both domestic and overseas, is explored. Third, the author, Margrét Eggertsdóttir, explores whether and, if so, how aesthetic and literary theories of the baroque can enrich our understanding of seventeenth-century Icelandic literature. Her principal aim is to contribute to a reevaluation of Icelandic seventeenth-century literary history by applying new interpretative perspectives to works by leading poets of the period, most notably the iconic figure of Hallgrimur Petursson.

In Language of Power, Viðar Pálsson addresses pre-modern European power relationships that provide the context for narratives of feasts and exchanges of gifts so conspicuous in the Icelandic sagas. Viðar's point of departure considers 'comparative perspectives on rituals, the sociology of power, and pre-state political cultures in Europe,' focusing on medieval Europe and its political and cultural heritage from classical antiquity, before proceeding to a similar contemplation of sagas of kings of Norway and sagas of the Icelandic commonwealth. In writing for scholars of Icelandic sagas and for scholars of medieval European cultures of power, Viðar analyzes in depth the demonstrative character of friendship in this pre-modern world as it derives from classical manifestations of amicitia.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, the young American student Daniel Willard Fiske left college to embark on a sojourn in Denmark and Sweden that would eventually lead, in 1879, to a lengthy visit to Iceland. By then, Fiske had become Cornell University's first university librarian and professor of Northern European languages, and had established the foremost book collection in private hands in America on Iceland and the medieval Norse world.

Kristín Bragadóttir explores in depth Fiske's fascination with Iceland and the Icelanders, with their language and literature, describing with admiration the solicitude this remarkable American intellectual, brilliant linguist, astute bibliophile, and enthusiastic chess advocate manifested for the remote island community as it fledged from a distant Danish dependency into a nation on the path of cultural and political self-determination.

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 avid general readers, drawn in ever-increasing numbers to the Icelandic sagas and their world.Contributors: Paul Acker, Saint Louis University; Guðrún Nordal, University of Iceland; Sarah Harlan-Haughey, Cornell University; Joseph Harris, Harvard University; Richard Harris, University of Saskatchewan; Thomas D. Hill, Cornell University; Shaun Hughes, Purdue University; Andy Orchard, University of Toronto; Russell Poole, University of Western Ontario; Torfi Tulinius, University of Iceland; Jeffrey Turco; Purdue University; Kirsten Wolf, University of Wisconsin–Madison

An Icelandic Literary Florilegium, a special issue of New Norse Studies, is a smorgasbord of noteworthy studies and brings together twelve original articles. The various authors examine topics within the field of Old Norse-Icelandic and deal with a variety of literary genres, including the Sagas of Icelanders, kings' sagas, saints' lives, contemporary sagas, skaldic poetry, and post-Reformation compositions in verse and prose. There is no unifying theme, but all articles are written with Professor Úlfar Bragason in mind. Collectively, they present a heartfelt offering to him on the occasion of his seventieth birthday in gratitude for his friendship and scholarly support through many years. This book will be welcomed not only by specialists and scholars in adjacent fields, but also by avid general readers. Contributors: T. M. Andersson, Margaret Clunies Ross, Kate Heslop, Shaun F. D. Hughes, Jón Atli Árnason, Jon Gunnar Jørgensen, Marianne Kalinke, Annette Lassen, John Lindow, Else Mundal, Natalie M. Van Deusen, Andrew Wawn, Kirsten Wolf, Sune Wolf Pulsiano.

Iceland's Shelter-Seeking Behavior challenges the traditional narrative that Iceland's submission to foreign rule and external relations had catastrophic consequences for the country. It argues that this narrative both exaggerates the costs of external relations and underestimates their benefits. Within the historical context of Iceland's external relations, the book outlines shelter theory, applying its assumption that small polities need economic, political, and societal shelter in order to prosper.

Analysis of Iceland's external relations from the Norse settlement, a little before 900, to the creation of the Republic in 1944 suggests that throughout the period, this island nation enjoyed essential shelter, vital for development and prosperity, which its larger neighbors—Norway, Denmark, Great Britain, and the United States—provided. Other international actors, such as Hansa merchants; Dutch, French, Spanish, and Basque mariners; and the Catholic Church, also provided Iceland with important shelter.

From Rus' to Rímur, volume 65 in the Islandica series and simultaneously an issue in the occasional journal New Norse Studies, offers six contributions that range across Europe from East to West and across three categories: "Historical Studies," "Literary Studies," and "New Editions." The volume opens with a historical-onomastic study of the Varangian presence in Medieval Rus' and proceeds to the Isle of Man for a consideration of its population's "ethnogenesis" in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Literary studies and fresh translations follow to return our attention to the remarkable creativity in sagas and poetry that was an especially rich province of Norse and Icelandic culture.

Contributors: Matthew Bardowell, Brynja orgeirsdóttir, Francesco Colombo, Caitlin Ellis, Eric A. Haley-Halinski, Shaun F. D. Hughes, Jonathan Y. H. Hui, Philip Lavender, Anna Litvina, James McIntosh, Dirk H. Steinforth, Fjodor Uspenski.

Medieval Icelandic Bodies in "Tristram ok Ísodd" examines the depiction of the bodies of the two main characters in the Icelandic version of the Tristan romance, the Saga af Tristram ok Ísodd, through the lens of the Íslendingasögur, the classic sagas of the early Icelanders. Although its origins are somewhat unclear, the Saga af Tristram ok Ísodd derives, ultimately, from Thomas's Anglo-Norman Tristran and was composed under the influence of the Old Norse translation, in 1226, of the Anglo-Norman original. Nonetheless, this version "deviates, sometimes rather startlingly, from its Old Norse inspiration," leading some scholars to consider it "an inept retelling" if not "a deliberate satire."

In this book, Karen Lurkhur proposes that certain "outlandish features" of the Icelandic romance, such as its treatment of Tristram's various wounds and its erotic devaluation of Ísodd, may be attributed to the not always successful attempt of the anonymous author to transpose Thomas's Old French romance of adultery and incest into the moral register of the sagas.