Ballads of the North, Medieval to Modern: Essays Inspired by Larry Syndergaard (Festschriften, Occasional Papers, and Lectures)

This volume is intended as a belated but heartfelt thank-you and __Gedenkschrift__ to the late Larry Syndergaard (1936-2015), long-time professor of English at Western Michigan University and Fellow of the Kommission für Volksdichtung (International Ballad Commission). Larry’s contributions down the decades to ballad studies--particularly Scandinavian and Anglophone--included dozens of papers and articles, as well as his supremely useful book, __English Translations of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballads__. As David Atkinson and Thomas A. McKean of the Kommission have written (May 2015): “Larry... was a sound scholar with a penetrating mind which he used to support, encourage and befriend others, rather than show off his own knowledge. He will be remembered for his contributions to international balladry, especially for providing a bridge between the English- and Scandinavian-language ballads.” Larry’s particular fascination with the vernacular ballads of the northern medieval world are reflected in this collection; topics here range from plot elements such as demonic whales, otherworldly antagonists, and mer-people to thematic issues of genre, religion and sexual mores. As a tribute to the global influence of Larry’s scholarship and the broad academic interest in medieval ballads, the essays in this volume were contributed by twelve international scholars of narrative song based in Europe, North America and Australia. Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgments and Tabula Commemorativa......Page 10 “Both Me and Mine He Causd to Dine”......Page 12 Bibliographical Note......Page 20 Part I: The Ballad Genre......Page 22 1. Swedish Ballad Authenticity and Its Gatekeepers......Page 24 2. The Relationship of the Anomalous Ballad Þorgeirs rímur [Stjakarhöfða] to Áns rímur bogsveigis......Page 50 3. Hervör, Hervard, Hervik: The Metamorphosis of a Shieldmaiden......Page 76 Part II a: Traditional Ballads in Context: Motifs and Themes......Page 92 4. Uncanny Cetology in the Sagas and Later West-Scandinavian Balladry......Page 94 5. If You Go Down to the Woods Today ... Fateful Locations in the Ballad Landscapes of Three Kingdoms......Page 112 6. “His Hawk, His Hound, and Lady Fair”: Social Symbols and Ballad Metaphors......Page 144 7. Balladry and Social Mores: An Exploration of Attitudes to Sexual Relations in Songsters, Broadsides, and Oral Tradition......Page 160 Part II b: The Traditional Ballad in Context: Individual Ballads......Page 178 8. The Agnete Ballad of Denmark: Cultural Tool or Protest Song?......Page 180 9. From Sir Eglamour to “Old Bangum”: The Travels of a Ballad Hero......Page 196 Part III: The Afterlife of the Traditional Ballad......Page 214 10. Writing Romances for Amateur Singers: A Nineteenth-Century Danish Example......Page 216 11. The Secret Lives of Ballads: Fan Fiction as Folk Space......Page 230 12. A Game of Crows: Poe, Plagiarism, and the Ballad Tradition......Page 242 Notes on the Contributors......Page 262 Index......Page 264

This volume is intended as a belated but heartfelt thank-you and Gedenkschrift to the late Larry Syndergaard (1936-2015), long-time professor of English at Western Michigan University and Fellow of the Kommission für Volksdichtung (International Ballad Commission). Larry's contributions down the decades to ballad studies--particularly Scandinavian and Anglophone--included dozens of papers and articles, as well as his supremely useful book, English Translations of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballads. As David Atkinson and Thomas A. McKean of the Kommission have written (May 2015): "Larry... was a sound scholar with a penetrating mind which he used to support, encourage and befriend others, rather than show off his own knowledge. He will be remembered for his contributions to international balladry, especially for providing a bridge between the English- and Scandinavian-language ballads." Larry's particular fascination with the vernacular ballads of the northern medieval world are reflected in this collection; topics here range from plot elements such as demonic whales, otherworldly antagonists, and mer-people to thematic issues of genre, religion and sexual mores. As a tribute to the global influence of Larry's scholarship and the broad academic interest in medieval ballads, the essays in this volume were contributed by twelve international scholars of narrative song based in Europe, North America and Australia.