Mnemonic Echoing in Old Norse Sagas and Eddas

Pernille Hermann

Published by De Gruyter 2022

Mnemonic Echoing in Old Norse Sagas and Eddas

Pernille Hermann

Volume 1 in the series Memory and the Medieval North

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110674958

Overview
Contents

About this book

This book brings together Old Norse-Icelandic literature and critical strategies of memory, and argues that some of the particularities of this vernacular textual tradition are explained by the fact that this literature derives from, represents, and incorporates into its designs mnemonic devices of different kinds. Even if Old Norse-Icelandic manuscript culture is relatively silent about the mnemonic context of the literature, the texts themselves exhibit multiple reminiscences of memory. By showing that this literature reveals glimpses of mnemonic technologies at the same time as it testifies to a cultural memory, this study demonstrates how ‘the past’, and narrative traditions about the past, were constructed in a dynamic relationship with ideas that existed at the time the texts were written. Moreover, the book deals with the function of memory in early book-culture, with metaphors of memory, and with mnemonic cues such as spatiality and visuality. With its new readings of canonical texts like the Íslendingasǫgur, the Prose Edda and selected eddic poems, as well as of less widely studied branches of Old Norse-Icelandic literature, such as the sagas of bishops and religious texts, this book will be of interest to Old Norse scholars and to scholars interested in medieval Scandinavia and memory studies.

Author / Editor information

Pernille Hermann, Aarhus Universitet, Denmark.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Series Foreword Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Table of Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
List of Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	XIII
1 Introduction: Memory in Medieval Literature Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 Memorizing by Way of Books Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
3 Imageries Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
4 Technologies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	84
5 The Senses Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	122
6 Buildings and Seating Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	168
7 Cartography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
8 Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
Indexes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Literary studies scholars, Old Norse and medieval Scandinavian scholars, scholars of memory studies
Pages
- Front matter: 13
- Main content: 262
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 3
- Coloured Illustrations: 10
Keywords: Old Norse-Icelandic literature; medieval Scandinavia; mnemonic technologies; cultural memory

eBook

Published: August 22, 2022
ISBN: 9783110674958

Hardcover

Published: August 22, 2022
ISBN: 9783110674842