The Troll Inside You: Paranormal Activity in the Medieval North

Description

What do medieval Icelanders mean when they say "troll"? What did they see when they saw a troll? What did the troll signify to them? And why did they see them? The principal subject of this book is the Norse idea of the troll, which the author uses to engage with the larger topic of paranormal experiences in the medieval North. The texts under study are from 13th-, 14th-, and 15th-century Iceland. The focus of the book is on the ways in which paranormal experiences are related and defined in these texts and how those definitions have framed and continue to frame scholarly interpretations of the paranormal. The book is partitioned into numerous brief chapters, each with its own theme. In each case the author is not least concerned with how the paranormal functions within medieval society and in the minds of the individuals who encounter and experience it and go on to narrate these experiences through intermediaries. The author connects the paranormal encounter closely with fears and these fears are intertwined with various aspects of the human experience including gender, family ties, and death. "The Troll Inside You" hovers over the boundaries of scholarship and literature. Its aim is to prick and provoke but above all to challenge its audience to reconsider some of their preconceived ideas about the medieval past. Preface: Jitterbug - xi Acknowledgments - xv Troll - 17 The Truth Is Out There - 21 Categories - 25 Unreal Fauna - 31 Cave - 37 Petrified - 43 Troll Space - 49 Trollspeak - 55 Witchcraft Epistemology - 61 Causality - 69 Rationalism in the Lava Field - 71 Zombies in the Crack - 77 Goði as Exorcist - 81 Troll on Your Doorstep - 85 Never Forget - 91 The Confidence of Youth - 95 Popular - 101 Cultural Hegemony - 105 Immigrant Song - 109 Oedipal Conflict - 113 The Witchfather - 117 Don't Feed the Trolls - 123 Coprophagy in the Fields - 127 Please! Let Me In! - 133 The Fragile State of Humanity - 139 Time the Devourer - 143 My Parent, Myself - 147 Ties Unravelled - 153 Gravity - 157 Troll and Control - 161 Textual Hauntings (Endnotes) - 165 Index - 229