Includes bibliographical references (pages 341-367) and index.
Contents:
Index. Abbreviations -- Introduction -- An elite society -- The genre concept : gain or pain? -- What is a saga? : the philological challenge -- The reality of the fantastic? : the historical challenge -- The historical background -- Centre and periphery -- Magic -- The political universe -- Social hierarchy -- Three modes of reading -- Sagas as stories : vehicles of ideology -- Sagas as structures : vehicles of myths -- Sagas as dynamics : vehicles of negotiation -- The setup of this book -- AM 343a 4to -- Introduction -- Short summary of the sagas in AM 343a 4to -- Stories -- A story of the suppression of magic -- A story of the formation of a political realm -- A story of the establishment of social hierarchy -- The Hrafnista story : conclusions and limitations -- Oppositions -- The magical aspect : the periphery as alien -- The political aspect : the periphery as subordinate -- The social aspect : the ideal order -- Conclusion : Us vs. them -- Dynamics -- The magical aspect : the periphery as similar -- The political aspect : the powerful periphery -- The social aspect : a contested order -- Conclusion : self-governed communities -- The literary and historical context of AM 343a 4to -- Otherness -- Power -- Order -- Synchronic analysis : AM 471 4to and AM 343a 4to -- The magical aspect : the periphery as similar -- The political aspect : the powerful periphery -- The social aspect : a contested order -- Tensions between magnates and kings -- Magnate rivalry and community -- The king and the people : a distant relationship -- Conclusion -- Diachronic analysis : holm perg 7 4to and AM 343a 4to -- The magical aspect : the periphery as similar -- The political aspect : the powerful periphery -- The social aspect : a contested order -- Conclusion -- The fantastic and the real -- From text to manuscript -- Sweet dreams are made of this -- Scary monsters (and super creeps) -- You can't always get what you want -- From manuscript to textual community -- From textual community to fifteenth-century Iceland -- A chaotic society -- A feuding society -- From free state to statefree Iceland? -- A new society -- An elite society -- Bibliography -- Index of manuscripts -- Index.
Summary:
The reality of the fantastic' combines a 'new philological' close study of a fifteenth-century Icelandic manuscript compilation of fifteen fornaldarsögur and riddarasögur, AM 343a 4to, with an historically-based analysis of the manuscript's various contents, demonstrating how fictions that are in many respects non-realistic can be made to yield up insights into the real-world concerns and interests of a group of fifteenth-century Icelanders. Both the methodology of this study and its conclusions should interest readers from diverse fields, including literature, history and manuscript studies. -- cf. ERASMUS BOEKHANDEL BV (Netherlands).
Series:
The Viking collection. Studies in Northern civilization, 0108-8408 ; volume 23
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.