Flesh And Word: Reading Bodies In Old Norse-icelandic And Early Irish Literature (trends In Medieval Philology; Volume 31)

Bodies and their role in cultural discourse have been a constant focus in the humanities and social sciences in recent years, but comparatively few studies exist about Old Norse-Icelandic or early Irish literature. This study aims to redress this imbalance and presents carefully contextualised close readings of medieval texts. The chapters focus on the role of bodies in mediality discourse in various contexts: that of identity in relation to ideas about self and other, of inscribed and marked skin and of natural bodily matters such as defecation, urination and menstruation. By carefully discussing the sources in their cultural contexts, it becomes apparent that medieval Scandinavian and early Irish texts present their very own ideas about bodies and their role in structuring the narrated worlds of the texts. The study presents one of the first systematic examinations of bodies in these two literary traditions in terms of body criticism and emphasises the ingenuity and complexity of medieval texts. Contents Preface 1. Introduction 1.1 Bodies and Mediality: Mapping Horizons 1.2 Research Questions 1.3 Studying Bodies in Medieval Literature: Some Remarks on Concepts and Terminology 1.3.1 Studying Texts as Texts 1.3.2 Looking Beyond Literature: Adjusting Methodology 1.3.3 Minor Matters 1.4 Texts 2. Speak for Yourself! Expressive Mediality and the Self 2.1 Bodies that Speak 2.2 Expressive Mediality and Social Identity 2.2.1 Early Irish Literature: Reading Cú Chulainn with(in) The Politics of Anatomy 2.2.2 A Remarkable Presence or an Unmarked Presence? Bodies and Social Status from Rígsþula to Saga 2.3 How (not) to Be a Proper Man: Reading Beardless Faces 2.3.1 Beating a Boy? The Beardless Cú Chulainn in TBC 2.3.2 Female or No-Male? A Study of the Beardless Njál in Brennu-Njáls saga 3. I am the Other – Who are You? Expressive Mediality and the Other 3.1 Ideas of Otherness in Medieval Literature 3.2 Reading Encounters with the Other 3.2.1 Original riddarasögur: Male Heroes and Female Others 3.2.2 ‘What Manner of Man,’ asked Ailill, ‘is this Hound?’: Cú Chulainn’s ríastrad 3.3 Hamhleypa and Metamorphosis: Reading the Unfixed Body 3.3.1 Revisiting Cú Chulainn’s Shifting Body 3.3.2 Crossing Boundaries: Hamhleypa in a fornaldarsaga Norðurlanda 3.4 Expressing Categories, Categories of Expression 4. Scratching the Surface: Reading Bodies in Transmissive Mediality 4.1 The Transmissive Nature of Inscribed Skin 4.2 Show Me Your Skin and I’ll Tell You Who You Are: Reading Scars and Wounds in Ásmundar saga kappabani and Scéla Mucce Meic Dathó 4.3 And the Flesh Was Made Word: Cethern, Tuán and the Body Bearing (His-)story 4.4 And the Flesh Was Made Shame: Mutilated Bodies in Sigurðar saga þogla 4.5 Inscribed Bodies before Tattoo-Theory 5. The Need to Need: Natural Bodily Matters in Mediality Discourse 5.1 Writing with Faeces, Writing about Faeces 5.2 What’s the Matter with the Matter? Urinating, Defecating and Social Space 5.2.1 Nature and Bodily Matters: The Early Irish Tradition 5.2.2 Culture and Bodily Matters: The Old Norse-Icelandic Tradition 5.3 Bloody Women, Bleeding Men? A New Reading of Fúal Medba 5.4 ‘Human’ Waste 6. Concluding Matters 6.1 Reading Bodies as Texts, Reading Bodies in Texts 6.2 Revisiting Ideas 6.3 Situating the Findings 7. List of Abbreviations 8. Bibliography 8.1 Primary Sources 8.2 Secondary Sources 8.3 Electronic Sources Index This study examines the reading of bodies in social (mediality) discourse in Old Norse-Icelandic and early Irish texts. It shows that even in medieval texts, bodies can be consciously installed and read as much more than physical entities: they can be meaningful in relation to identity discourse, inscribed skin or the regulation of bodily needs. A study that examines the reading of bodies in social (mediality) discourse in Old Norse-Icelandic and early Irish texts. It discusses a number of examples in their respective context through close readings. It shows that even in medieval texts, bodies can be consciously installed and read as much more than physical entities.