An Introduction to the Sagas of Icelanders
eBook - ePub

An Introduction to the Sagas of Icelanders

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

An Introduction to the Sagas of Icelanders

About this book

Combining an accessible approach with innovative scholarship, An Introduction to the Sagas of Icelanders provides up-to-date perspectives on a unique medieval literary genre that has fascinated the English-speaking world for more than two centuries. Carl Phelpstead draws on historical context, contemporary theory, and close reading to deepen our understanding of Icelandic saga narratives about the island's early history. Phelpstead explores the origins and cultural setting of the genre, demonstrating the rich variety of oral and written source traditions that writers drew on to produce the sagas. He provides fresh, theoretically informed discussions of major themes such as national identity, gender and sexuality, and nature and the supernatural, relating the Old Norse-Icelandic texts to questions addressed by postcolonial studies, feminist and queer theory, and ecocriticism. He then presents readings of select individual sagas, pointing out how the genre's various source traditions and thematic concerns interact. Including an overview of the history of English translations that shows how they have been stimulated and shaped by ideas about identity, and featuring a glossary of critical terms, this book is an essential resource for students of the literary form. A volume in the series New Perspectives on Medieval Literature: Authors and Traditions, edited by R. Barton Palmer and Tison Pugh

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Yes, you can access An Introduction to the Sagas of Icelanders by Carl Phelpstead in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & Medieval & Early Modern Literary Criticism. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Contents
  5. Foreword
  6. Preface
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. A Note on Names and Pronunciation
  9. List of Abbreviations
  10. Chronology
  11. 1. Encountering the Sagas
  12. 2. Traditions in Time
  13. 3. Icelandic Identities
  14. 4. Reading Selected Sagas
  15. 5. The Sagas in English
  16. Conclusion: Identity and Alterity
  17. Reference Material: Glossary and Table of Editions, Translations, and Possible Dates
  18. Notes
  19. Bibliography
  20. Index
  21. About the Author
  22. New Perspectives on Medieval Literature: Authors and Traditions