Egil, the Viking Poet: New Approaches to "Egil's Saga"

Description

'Egil, the Viking Poet' focuses on one of the best-known Icelandic sagas, that of the extraordinary hero Egil Skallagrimsson. Descended from a lineage of trolls, shape-shifters, and warriors, Egil's transformation from a precocious and murderous child into a raider, mercenary, litigant, landholder, and poet epitomizes the many facets of Viking legend. The contributors to this collection of essays approach Egil's story from a variety of perspectives, including psychology, philology, network theory, social history, and literary theory. Strikingly original, their essays will appeal not only to dedicated students of Old Norse-Icelandic literature but also to those working in the fields of Viking studies, comparative ethnology, and folklore. 1. Introduction: Egil, The Viking Poet: New Approaches to 'Egil’s Saga' / Russell Poole 3 Composition 2. The Construction of 'Egil’s Saga' / Torfi H. Tulinius 23 3. 'Ars metrica' and the Composition of 'Egil’s Saga' / Guðrún Nordal 40 Identity 4. The Concept of the Self in 'Egil’s Saga': A Ricoeurean Approach / Laurence de Looze 57 5. Self-Description in Egil’s Poetry / Margaret Clunies Ross 75 Emotions and Affiliations 6. Thorolf’s Choice: Family and Goodness in 'Egil’s Saga', Ch. 40 / Ármann Jakobsson 95 7. Elegy and Old Age in 'Egil’s Saga' / Alison Finlay 111 8. '*Konutorrek': A Husband’s Lament / Oren Falk 131 9. Facebook for Vikings: Social Network Analysis and 'Egil’s Saga' / Timothy R. Tangherlini 149 Reception 10. Egil Strikes Again: Textual Variation and the Seventeenth-Century Reworkings of 'Egil’s Saga' / Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir 175 11. Bloody Runes: The Transgressive Poetics of 'Egil’s Saga' / Jón Karl Helgason 197 12. A Selected Bibliography from the Online Annotated Bibliography of 'Egil’s Saga' / Álfdís Þorleifsdóttir, Katelin Parsons, and Jane Appleton 216 Contributors 233 Index 237