Old Icelandic Literature and Society (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, Series Number 42)

From the period of settlement (870-930) to the end of the fourteenth century, Icelanders produced one of the most varied and original literatures of medieval Europe. This is the first book to provide a comprehensive account of Old Icelandic literature within its social setting and across a range of genres. An international team of specialists examines the ways in which the unique social experiment in Iceland, a kingless society without an established authority structure, inspired a wealth of innovative writing composed in the Icelandic vernacular. Icelanders explored their uniqueness through poetry, mythologies, metrical treatises, religious writing, and through saga, a new literary genre which textualised their history and incorporated oral traditions in a written form. The book shows that Icelanders often used their textual abilities to gain themselves political and intellectual advantage, not least in the period when the state's freedom came to an end. -- Publisher description This book provides a comprehensive account of Old Icelandic literature within its social context. An international team of specialists examines the ways in which the unique medieval social experiment in Iceland, a kingless society without an established authority structure, inspired a wealth of innovative writing composed in the Icelandic vernacular. The book explores the shaping and context of Old Icelandic poetry, mythology, metrical treatises, religious writing, and the saga, a new genre that textualized their history and incorporated oral traditions in a written form, as well as exploring Old Icelandic literary culture's indebtedness to adopted continental and Christian genres. Essays contained in this volume: Preben Meulengracht Srensen, "Social Institutions and Belief Systems of Medieval Iceland (c.870-1400) and their Relations to Literary Production" Judy Quinn, "From Orality to Literacy in Medieval Iceland" Kari Ellen Gade, "Poetry and its Changing Importance in Medieval Icelandic Culture" Gsli Sigursson, "lfr rarson hvtaskald and Oral Poetry in the West of Iceland c.1250: the Evidence of References to Poetry in The Third Grammatical Treatise" Margaret Clunies Ross, "The Conservation and Reinterpretation of Myth in Medieval Iceland" Stephen Tranter, "Medieval Icelandic artes poeticae" Diana Whaley, "A Useful Past: Historical Writing in Medieval Iceland" Jrg Glauser, "Sagas of Icelanders (slendinga sgur) and ttir as the Literary Representation of a New Social Space" Gurn Nordal, "The Contemporary Sagas and their Social Context" Torfi H. Tulinius, "The 'Matter of the North': Fiction and Uncertain Identities in Thirteenth-century Iceland" Geraldine Barnes, "Romance in Iceland" Ian Kirby, "The Bible and Biblical Interpretation in Medieval Iceland" Margaret Cormack, "Sagas of Saints" Review: "This is the first book to provide a comprehensive account of Old Icelandic literature within its social setting and across a range of genres. An international team of specialists examines the ways in which the unique social experiment in Iceland, a kingless society without an established authority structure, inspired a wealth of innovative writing composed in the Icelandic vernacular. Icelanders explored their uniqueness through poetry, mythologies, metrical treatises, religious writing, and through saga, a new literary genre which textualised their history and incorporated oral traditions in a written form. The book shows that Icelanders often used their textual abilities to gain themselves political and intellectual advantage, not least in the period when the state's freedom came to an end."--Jacket

This book provides a comprehensive account of Old Icelandic literature within its social context. An international team of specialists examines the ways in which the unique medieval social experiment in Iceland, a kingless society without an established authority structure, inspired a wealth of innovative writing composed in the Icelandic vernacular. The book shows how Icelanders explored their uniqueness through poetry, mythologies, metrical treatises, religious writing, and through saga, a new genre that textualized their history and incorporated oral traditions in a written form.

Edited By Margaret Clunies Ross. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.