RE:writing

Among the texts examined are Sturlunga saga, a narrative cycle depicting the bitter feuding preceding Iceland’s loss of independence in 1262/4; Hauksbók or 'Haukr’s Book', a manuscript 'micro-library', containing among other things a history of the Christianisation of Iceland, narratives about legendary Vikings, the story of Troy, and computistical material; Víglundar saga, an exemplary romance in saga form; grammatical treatises in which native poetry is analysed in terms of classical rhetoric; and a tiny sixteenth-century manuscript of the vita of St Margaret, written as an amulet for the scribe’s pregnant daughter. Showcasing medially-focused responses to a wide range of medieval writing and textuality, the collection demonstrates the promise of a medial approach to Iceland’s extraordinarily rich and long-lived textual culture.

Kate Heslop, Jürg Glauser Introduction: Medial perspectives on textual culture in the Icelandic Middle Ages S. 9 – 62 Kate Heslop Talking heads: The mediality of Mímir S. 63 – 84 Judy Quinn Looking ahead to what is long past: the mediality of Jóreiðr’s dreaming in Sturlunga saga S. 85 – 108 Else Mundal To what degree did written texts change oral performance? S. 109 – 120 Karl G. Johansson Compilations, collections and composite manuscripts Some notes on the manuscript Hauksbók S. 121 – 142 Kevin Müller The terminology of reading and writing in Sturlunga saga S. 143 – 164 Lena Rohrbach The written legacy of the Sturlung age – Reflections on a media change S. 165 – 180 Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir Saints and sinners. Aspects of the production and use of manuscripts in Iceland 1300–1600 S. 181 – 194 Guðvarður Már Gunnlaugsson The speed of the scribes: how fast could Flateyjarbók have been written? S. 195 – 226 Margaret Clunies Ross The Fourth Grammatical Treatise as medial poetics S. 227 – 242 Jonas Wellendorf Virtues and vices: The Fourth Grammatical Treatise S. 243 – 264 Russell Poole Conspicuous mediality in a medieval poem: the case of Merlínússpá S. 265 – 284 Gísli Sigurðsson Njáls saga and its listeners’ assumed knowledge: applying notions of mediality to a medieval text S. 285 – 294 Ellen E. Peters Islendingasaga – couple romance – exemplum: Víglundar saga and the mediality of the söguöld S. 295 – 325