Old Norse Icelandic Literature

List of Illustrations.Chronology.Preface.1. Iceland.The Beginnings.Language.Cultural Heritage.Discovery and Settlement.2. The Saga.What Is a Saga?.Are Family Sagas Medieval Novels?.Are Family Sagas Chronicles of Times Past?.Three Extracts: Egils saga, Vatnsdola saga and Laxdola saga.3. New Knowledge and Native Traditions.Latin Learning.Eddaic and Skaldic Verse.Historical Writings.Fornaldarsogur.Riddarasogur and Rimur.4. The Politics of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature.Iceland and Scandinavian Nationalism.Old Norse-Icelandic as 'Ancient Poetry'.Bishop Percy's Translations.Gray's 'Norse Odes'.The Romantic Viking.Our Friends in the North.Old Norse-Icelandic Studies in Academia.The Debate about Saga Origins.Why is Old Norse English Literature?.Old Norse-Icelandic and English Medieval Literature.5. The Influence of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature.BlakeTolkien and Fantasy Literature.Scott, Kingsley and Haggard.Landor, Arnold and Morris.Stevenson, Hardy and Galsworthy.MacDiarmid, Mackay Brown, and Auden and MacNeice.Heaney and Muldoon.Appendix: Hrafnkell's Saga.Glossary.Notes.Bibliography.Index

Heather O'Donoghue is Reader in Old Norse at Oxford University. She is a regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement.