'Flagð undir fögru skinni': The Tricky Transmission of Trollwives in Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra / Philip Lavender. Bergbúa þáttr: The Story of a Paranormal Encounter / Ármann Jakobsson -- The Pre-Christian Jól: Not a Cult of the Dead, but the Norse New Year Festival / Bettina Sommer -- Scandinavian Folklore Parallels to the Narrative about Selkolla in Guðmundar saga biskups / Bengt af Klintberg -- Saints, Seals and Demons: The Stories of Selkolla / Margaret Cormack -- The People, the Bishop and the Beast: Remediation and Reconciliation in Einarr Gilsson's Selkolluvísur / Mart Kuldkepp -- Grettir the Strong and Guðmundr the Good / Marteinn Helgi Sigurðdsson -- From the Inside Out: Chronicles, Genealogies, Monsters, and The Makings of an Icelandic World-View / Arngrímur Vídalín -- The Troll and Old Norwegian-Icelandic Law / Jan Ragnar Hagland -- Between a Rock and a Soft Place: The Materiality of Old Norse Dwarves and Paranormal Ecologies in Fornaldarsögur / Miriam Mayburd -- The Literary Re-Use of Myths in Þorsteins þáttr bøjarmagns: A Key Elf Queen Legend and Another Twist on the Twist / Eldar Heide -- 'Flagð undir fögru skinni': The Tricky Transmission of Trollwives in Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra / Philip Lavender.
Summary:
The Icelandic sagas have long been famous for their alleged realism, and within this conventional view, references to the supernatural have often been treated as anomalies. Yet, as this volume demonstrates, such elements were in fact an important part of Old Norse literature and tradition, and their study can provide new and intriguing insights into the world-view of the medieval Icelanders. By providing an extensive and interdisciplinary treatment of the supernatural within sagas, the eleven chapters presented here seek to explore the literary and folkloric interface between the natural and the supernatural through a study of previously neglected texts (such as Bergbúa þáttr, Selkollu þáttr, and Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra), as well as examining genres that are sometimes overlooked (including fornaldarsögur and byskupa sögur), law codes, and learned translations. Contributors including Ármann Jakobsson, Margaret Cormack, Jan Ragnar Hagland, and Bengt af Klintberg explore how the supernatural was depicted within saga literature and how it should be understood, as well as questioning the origins of such material and investigating the parallels between saga motifs and broader folkloric beliefs. In doing so, this volume also raises important questions about the established boundaries between different saga genres and challenges the way these texts have traditionally been approached.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.