Books in the Studies in Old Norse Literature series

An examination of what dialogues and direct speech in Old Norse literature can convey and mean, beyond their immediate face-value.

A comprehensive guide to a crucial aspect of Old Norse literature.

An innovative, interdisciplinary approach to the understudied Icelandic mappae mundi.

A full survey of the "Last Things" as treated in a wide range of Old Norse literature.

A compelling argument that far from developing in a literary vacuum, saga literature interacts in lively, creative and critical ways with one of the central genres of the European middle ages.The relationship between that most popular of medieval genres, the saint's life, and the sagas of the Icelanders is investigated here. Although saga heroes are rarely saints themselves - indeed rather the reverse - they interact with saints in a variety of ways: as ancestors or friends of saints, as noble heathens or converts to Christianity, as innocent victims of violent death, or even as anti-saints, interrogating aspects of saintly ideology. Via detailed readings of a range of the sagas, this book explores how saints' lives contributed to the widening of medieval horizons, allowing the saga authors to develop multiple perspectives (moral, eschatological, psychological) on traditional feud narratives and family dramas. The saint's life introduced new ideals to the saga world, such as suffering, patience and feminine nurture, and provided, through dreams, visions and signs, ways of representing the interior life and of engaging with questions of merit and reward. In dialogue with the ideology of the saint, the saga hero develops into a complex and multi-faceted figure. Sian Gronlie is Associate Professor and Kate Elmore Fellow in English Language and Literature at St Anne's College, Oxford.

First full investigation of masculinities in Old Norse-Icelandic literature.Compared to other areas of medieval literature, the question of masculinity in Old Norse-Icelandic literature has been understudied. This is a neglect which this volume aims to rectify. The essays collected here introduce and analyse a spectrum of masculinities, from the sagas of Icelanders, contemporary sagas, kings' sagas, legendary sagas, chivalric sagas, bishops' sagas, and eddic and skaldic verse, producing a broad and multifaceted understanding of what it means to be masculine in Old Norse-Icelandic texts. A critical introduction places the essays in their scholarly context, providing the reader with a concise orientation in gender studies and the study of masculinities in Old Norse-Icelandic literature. This book's investigation of how masculinities are constructed and challenged within a unique literature is all the more vital in the current climate, in which Old Norse sources are weaponised to support far-right agendas and racist ideologies are intertwined with images of vikings as hypermasculine. This volume counters these troubling narratives of masculinity through explorations of Old Norse literature that demonstrate how masculinity is formed, how it is linked to violence and vulnerability, how it governs men's relationships, and how toxic models of masculinity may be challenged. JESSICA HANCOCK is a Lecturer in Educational Development at City, University of London; GARETH LLOYD EVANS is Lecturer in Medieval Literature at St Hilda's College, Oxford. Contributors: Asdis Egilsdottir, David Ashurst, Brynja orgeirsdottir, Gareth Lloyd Evans, Oren Falk, Alison Finlay, Jessica Clare Hancock, Johanna Katrin Fridriksdottir, Philip Lavender, Thomas Morcom, Carl Phelpstead, Matthew Roby.