UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

ENGLISH 295F

SPECIAL TOPIC

Icelandic Sagas in Translation

course outline

Half course: first term

Instructor                      Russell Poole

Location                       Talbot College Room 204

Meeting times                Tuesday 12-2pm; Thursday 1pm

Email                            rpoole@uwo.ca

Webpage                       http://publish.uwo.ca/~rpoole

Office location               University College Room 276

Phone                           661-2111 ext. 85782

Office hours are Tuesday 2-4pm; Thursday 2-4pm.

You are also welcome to phone and (if necessary) leave voice-mail messages outside office hours or to send a brief e-mail. If either type of communication is made on a normal working day within business hours I can usually attend to it within the day. E-mail is more effective than phone messaging, as a rule, and as a matter of policy I do not make phone calls to your residence.

Please do not send e-mail attachments of any kind (not even “cards”) without consulting me first. Essays or other assignment work must never be submitted by attachment.

Academic Content of the Course

This course surveys a broadly representative range of Icelandic sagas. Included are such genres as mythical-legendary sagas (fornaldarsögur), sagas about Icelanders living in the tenth and eleventh centuries (Íslendingasögur), and sagas about the kings of Norway (konungasögur). A total of nine sagas, some quite short, some approaching the length of a modern novel, will be read, all in translation.

Topics and issues to be discussed include the following: the place of the sagas on the spectrum between history and fiction; the transition from oral tradition to manuscript; narrative technique (e.g., objective point of view, character summaries, inset verses, and references to sources); the cultivation of Icelandic nationhood and representations of Otherness (especially in relation to first nations in Norway and North America); ideologies of leadership and governance; the dynamic between feuding and the law; public-sphere roles of women (especially in prophecy and incitation).

OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE

·                To discuss the literary qualities of the sagas

·                To provide an introduction to the social and historical context of saga literature

·                To survey some outstanding examples of saga literature

·                To discuss concepts and theories of relevance to saga literature

·                To develop student skills and techniques in researching and communicating on topics relevant to the sagas

READING LISTS

Required textbooks

The Sagas of the Icelanders: A Selection, ed. Robert Kellogg, introd. Jane Smiley (Penguin Classics). 0-14-100003-1

Völsunga saga = The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer, trans. Jesse Byock (Penguin Classics). 0140447385

Haralds saga harðráða = King Harald’s Saga, trans. and introd. Magnus Magnusson (Penguin Classics).

Selected sagas from the above textbooks

Völsunga saga = The Saga of the Volsungs; Egils saga = Egil’s Saga; Eiríks saga rauða = Eirik the Red’s Saga; Hrafnkels saga = The Saga of Hrafnkel Frey’s Godi; Bandamanna saga = The Saga of the Confederates; Laxdœla saga; Haralds saga harðráða = King Harald’s Saga  

Select Optional and Background Reading

NB: 1. There is no requirement to purchase any of these books. They are all available from the UWO library system.

2. Within these books the titles of the sagas and the names of characters may be cited in the original Icelandic, thus, e.g., Bandamanna saga, not The Saga of the Confederates, Ásgerðr, not Asgerd. For the most part, however, they should be easily recognizable. Enquire with the instructor if a particular difficulty in this regard presents itself.

3. Many significant works on the sagas are in German or one of the Scandinavian languages and have not been translated into English. A few German titles are included below, but if you happen to have a reading knowledge of any of these languages and wish to read more widely consult the instructor.

4. Icelandic authors are listed under their given name, thus “Vésteinn Ólason”, not “Ólason, Vésteinn”. Library catalogues vary between the Icelandic and the ordinary European convention.

5. Take note of the format and categories of information used in the following booklist. You should closely emulate these conventions in the “Works Cited” list attached to your essays.

Literary overviews and essay collections

Vésteinn Ólason, Dialogues with the Viking Age: Narration and Representation in the Sagas of the Icelanders. Trans. Andrew Wawn. Reykjavík: Heimskringla, 1998.

Old Norse-Icelandic literature: a critical guide. Ed. Carol J. Clover and John Lindow. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1985. Essays include: Theodore M. Andersson, “Kings’ sagas”; Carol J. Clover, “Icelandic Family Sagas.”

Old Icelandic literature and society. Ed. Margaret Clunies Ross. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000. Volume includes the following relevant chapters: Preben Meulengracht Sørensen, “Social institutions and belief systems of medieval Iceland (c.870-1400) and their relations to literary production”; Judy Quinn, “From orality to literacy in medieval Iceland”; Margaret Clunies Ross, “Conversion and reinterpretation of myth in medieval Icelandic writings”; Diana Whaley, “A useful past”; Jürg Glauser, “Sagas of Icelanders (Íslendinga sögur) and þættir as the literary representation of a new social space.”

Andersson, Theodore M. The Icelandic family saga. An analytic reading. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1967.

Andersson, Theodore M. The problem of Icelandic saga origins. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 1964.

Jónas Kristjánsson. Eddas and sagas. Trans. Peter Foote. Reykjavík: Hið íslenska bókmenntafélag, 1988.

Stefán Einarsson. A history of Icelandic literature. New York: Johns Hopkins UP, 1957.

Clover, Carol J. The Medieval Saga. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1982.

Schach, Paul, and Leif Sjöberg. Icelandic sagas. Boston, MA: Hall, 1984.

Hallberg, Peter. The Icelandic saga, trans. Paul Schach. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1962.

Structure and meaning in Old Norse literature: new approaches to textual analysis and literary criticism. Ed. John Lindow, Lars Lönnroth, Gerd Wolfgang Weber. Odense: Odense UP, 1986. Essays include: Anne Heinrichs, “Annat er várt eðli. The type of the prepatriarchal woman in Old Norse literature”; Joseph Harris, “Saga as historical novel”; Joaquin Martinez Pizarro, “The three meals in Heiðarvíga saga: repetition and functional diversity”; Preben Meulengracht Sørensen, “Murder in marital bed. An attempt at understanding a crucial scene in Gísla saga”; John Lindow, “Þorsteins þáttr skelks and the verisimilitude of supernatural experience in saga literature”; Kirsten Hastrup, “Tracing tradition: an anthropological perspective on Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar”.

Sagas of the Icelanders: a book of essays. Ed. John Tucker. New York: Garland, 1989. Essays include: John Tucker, “Introduction: Sagas of the Icelanders”; Hermann Pálsson, “Early Icelandic Imaginative Literature”; Theodore M. Andersson, “The Displacement of the Heroic Ideal in the Family Sagas”; Lars Lönnroth, “Rhetorical Persuasion in the Sagas”; Jenny Jochens, “The Medieval Icelandic Heroine: Fact or Fiction?”; Margaret Clunies Ross, “The Art of Poetry and Figure of the Poet in Egils saga”; Preben Meulengracht Sørensen, “Starkaðr, Loki, and Egill Skallagrímsson”; Russell Poole, “Verses and Prose in Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu”; Jesse Byock, “Inheritance and Ambition in Eyrbyggja saga”; Ursula Dronke, “Narrative Insight in Laxdœla saga”; Robert Cook, “Reading for Character in Grettis saga”; John Lindow, “A Mythic Model in Bandamanna saga and its Significance”; Óskar Halldórsson, “The Origin and Theme of Hrafnkels saga”; Constance B. Hieatt, “Hrútr’s Voyage to Norway and the Structure of Njála”; Carol J. Clover, “Open Composition: The Atlantic Interlude in Njáls saga”; William Ian Miller, “The Central Feud in Njáls saga.”

Specvlvm norroenum. Norse studies in memory of Gabriel Turville-Petre. Ed. Ursula Dronke et al. Odense: Odense UP, 1981. Essays include: Theodore M. Andersson, “The Lays in the lacuna of Codex Regius”; R. Finch, “Atlakviða, Atlamál, and Völsunga saga: a study in combination and integration” (both these items are relevant to the Saga of the Volsungs); P. Schach, “Übertreibung in den Isländersagas” (= “Exaggeration in the sagas of Icelanders”).

Byock, Jesse L. Feud in the Icelandic saga. Berkeley: U of California P, 1982.

Iceland and the mediaeval world: studies in honour of Ian Maxwell. Ed. Gabriel Turville-Petre and John Stanley Martin. Melbourne: Organising Committee, 1974. Essays include: Peter Foote, “The audience and vogue of the sagas of Icelanders”; J. Vaughan, “Með ólögum eyða.”

Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome, ed. Monster theory: reading culture. Minneapolis, MN: U of Minnesota P, 1996. Includes: William Sayers, “The Alien and Alienated as Unquiet Dead in the Sagas of the Icelanders.” 

Sigurður Nordal. The historical element in the Icelandic family sagas. Glasgow: Jackson, 1957.

The Book of Settlements. Landnámabók. Trans. Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards. Winnipeg: U of Manitoba P, 1972.

Hermann Pálsson. Oral tradition and saga writing. Vienna: Fassbaender, 1999.

Vries, Jan de. Altnordische Literaturgeschichte. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1964-67. Rev edn. [In German.]

Specific sagas (NB: not all the items listed here directly cover the sagas in the course, but the approaches they adopt may be useful for those sagas.)

Jones, Gwyn. The Norse Atlantic saga; being the Norse voyages of discovery and settlement to Iceland, Greenland, America. London: Oxford UP, 1964. (Saga of Eirik the Red)

Ciklamini, Marlene. Snorri Sturluson. Boston: Twayne, 1978. (King Harald’s Saga.)

Hermann Pálsson. Art and ethics in Hrafnkel’s saga. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1971.

Mitchell, Stephen A. Heroic sagas and ballads. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1991. (Saga of the Volsungs.)

Andersson, Theodore M. The Legend of Brynhild. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1980. (Saga of the Volsungs.)

Morkinskinna: the earliest Icelandic chronicle of the Norwegian kings (1030-1157). Trans. Theodore M. Andersson and Kari Ellen Gade. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 2000.

Poole, Russell G. (ed.). Skaldsagas: Text, Vocation and Desire in the Icelandic Sagas of Poets. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2002. (Egil’s saga) [Currently on order at Weldon.]

Whaley, Diana. Heimskringla: An Introduction. London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 1991. (King Harald’s Saga) [Currently on order at Weldon.]

The saga of Gisli the outlaw, trans. George Johnston, introd. Peter Foote. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1992. First edn 1963.

Law and literature in medieval Iceland: Ljósvetninga saga and Valla-Ljóts saga. Trans. Theodore M. Andersson and William Ian Miller. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1989.

Allen, Richard F. Fire and iron; critical approaches to Njáls saga. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1971.

Dronke, Ursula. The Role of sexual themes in Njáls  saga. London: Viking Society, 1981.

Einar Ól. Sveinsson. Njáls saga: a literary masterpiece. Ed. and trans. Paul Schach, introd. E. O. G. Turville-Petre. Lincoln, NE: U of Nebraska P, 1971.

Lönnroth, Lars. Njáls saga: a critical introduction. Berkeley, CA: U of California P, 1976.

General historical and cultural orientation

Medieval Scandinavia: an encyclopedia. Ed. Phillip Pulsiano et al. New York: Garland, 1993.

Byock, Jesse L. Viking age Iceland. London: Penguin, 2001.

Byock, Jesse L. Medieval Iceland: society, sagas, and power. Berkeley, CA: U of California P, 1988.

Miller, William Ian. Bloodtaking and peacemaking: feud, law, and society in Saga Iceland.  Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1990.

Jochens, Jenny. Old Norse images of women. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 1996.

Jochens, Jenny. Women in Old Norse society. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1995.

Jesch, Judith. Women in the Viking age. Woodbridge: Boydell, 1991.

Meulengracht Sørensen, Preben. The unmanly man: concepts of sexual defamation in early northern society. Trans. Joan Turville-Petre. Odense: Odense UP, 1983.

Sigurður Nordal. Icelandic culture. Trans. Vilhjálmur T. Bjarnar. Ithaca, NY: Cornell U Library, 1990.

Gunnar Karlsson. Iceland’s 1100 years: the history of a marginal society. London: Hurst, 2000.

Gunnar Karlsson. The history of Iceland. Minneapolis, MN: U of Minnesota P, 2000.

Jón Jóhannesson. A history of the old Icelandic Commonwealth. Trans. Haraldur Bessason. Winnipeg: U of Manitoba P, 1974.

Mythological and legendary material

Clunies Ross, Margaret. Prolonged echoes: Old Norse myths in medieval Northern society. 2 vols. Odense: Odense UP, 1994-1998.

Polomé, Edgar C. Old Norse literature and mythology. Austin, TX: U of Texas P, 1969.

Turville-Petre, E.O.G. Myth and religion of the North: the religion of ancient Scandinavia. Westport, CN: Greenwood, 1975.

Davidson, Hilda Roderick Ellis. Scandinavian mythology. London: Hamlyn, 1982.

Page, R. I. Norse myths. London: British Museum, 1990.

Haymes, Edward, and Susann T. Samples. Heroic legends of the North: an introduction to the Nibelung and Dietrich cycles. New York: Garland, 1996.

Turville-Petre, E.O.G. The heroic age of Scandinavia. Westport, CN: Greenwood, 1976.

Periodicals (NB: many articles – not listed in this reading list – are likely to be relevant, but they may also be highly technical and presuppose knowledge of the original Icelandic.)

Saga-book of the Viking Society for Northern Research. London: Viking Society, 1895-

Scandinavian Studies, 1911- (various US universities and publishers)

Protocols within the Course

Intellectual honesty

Plagiarism can be defined as passing off the words or ideas of another person as your own. You must write your essays and assignments in your own words. While references to the work or ideas of others are highly desirable, as showing your command of research skills, they must always be acknowledged. Whenever you take an idea or a passage of text from another author, you must acknowledge your debt both by using quotation marks or indentation (as appropriate) and by proper referencing such as footnotes or citations. As a rule of thumb, it is a good idea to avoid long quotations (say more than two sentences at a time). Entire paragraphs of quotation, even though acknowledged, will be penalized in the grading.

Plagiarism is a major academic offence (see “Scholastic Offence Policy” in the UWO Academic Calendar). Accordingly, the University uses software for plagiarism checking. You may be required to submit your written work in electronic form for this checking to occur.

Appropriateness

It is your responsibility to strike a sensible balance between free speech and ensuring that the substance and tone of your comments are appropriate and non-offensive for a diverse set of participants in the course.

Assignment Topics

Assessment will include an essay on a literary topic, an essay on a cultural studies topic, two quizzes, and a final examination.

Assignment One (20%)

Essay on a literary topic

EITHER

a. “The personages in the sagas do not fit readily into modern concepts of characterization.”

Choosing a protagonist or major secondary figure from one of the sagas set for this course, discuss this proposition. From Egil’s Saga such figures as Egil himself, one or other of the two Thorolfs, Skalla-Grim, Asgerd, and Gunnhild (wife of Eirik Blood-Axe) would be suitable choices. From King Harald’s Saga you might choose Harald himself or Tosti. From The Saga of Hrafnkel either Hrafnkel himself or Sam. And so on for the other sagas. You may “clear” your choice of personage with the instructor before proceeding with the assignment if you wish.

OR

b. “The plot-lines of sagas do not fit readily into modern concepts of narrative.”

Choosing one of the sagas set for this course, give an overview of its plot-line, with special emphasis on cause and effect patterns, and explain what is special about it as contrasted with modern conventions.

OR

c. “The use of settings and locations in the sagas is different from that of modern fiction.”

Choosing one of the sagas set for this course, survey the settings and locations (both interior and exterior) and comment as suggested by the topic statement.

In treating these topics it is up to you to determine a definition of “modern”, building on your awareness of the “modern” as acquired in other university-level courses (foundation-level and survey courses will be perfectly adequate for this purpose), and similarly to be reasonably familiar with modern fiction. “Fiction” is defined for the purposes of this topic as “realistic” or “naturalistic”; you should not refer to works that belong to the category of “fantasy” (such as The Lord of the Rings). You may mention specific “modern” fictional works, but do not allow your treatment of them to take up disproportionate word-count in your essay.

The additional reading list (above) contains a selection of books relevant to this assignment. It is part of your task in preparing the essay to identify relevant items and consult them. You are also encouraged to identify and use further references, possibly including items from periodicals as well as books. Internet sources may also be used so long as they are carefully critiqued and acknowledged. You are not required to research into issues concerning the original language of the texts. Be aware that the naming of sagas and personages within the sagas will vary somewhat from book to book.

The finished essay should contain a thesis statement, a definite research element, and full documentation. Quotations, references (in-line or endnote form), and bibliography are included within the word count.

You may consult the instructor to see if you are “on the right lines” with your proposed treatment of the essay topic but such consultation must be verbal. As a matter of policy, I never offer advance comment on a written version of an essay.

Grading of essays is “holistic”. This is to say that the instructor uses a range of criteria in determining a grade. The criteria include command of concepts, understanding of relevant theory, clarity and validity of definitions, resourcefulness and coverage of research, critique of primary and secondary sources, analysis and interpretation of primary texts, synthesis of materials, adherence to conventions of essay structure, communicative and stylistic qualities in your prose, and accuracy in grammar and other micro-scale features, as relevant. These criteria are weighted, so that for instance research is more important than punctuation, but they all enter into the mix. If you wish to query or contest the grade your essay has received, first think over your performance in the essay in relation to these criteria and the specific comments on your essay. If after a few days have elapsed and perhaps you have consulted with people you trust, it is then appropriate to raise the matter with the instructor. Query of grades at the class where the essays are returned is not appropriate.

Word limit: about 1500 words.

Due date: See Course Schedule (below) for deadline.

Assignment Two (20%)

Essay on a cultural studies topic

Write an essay on ONE of the topics listed below. Examples from at least two of the sagas set for study in this course should be included.

1. The sagas as documenting the role and function of women in early Scandinavian society.
2. The sagas as documenting feuds and vendettas in early Iceland.
3. The sagas as documenting patterns of courtship and marriage (and divorce) in early Iceland.
4. The sagas as documenting the legal system and the Assembly (Alþing) in early Iceland.
5. The sagas as documenting information on the original settlement and “landtaking” in Iceland.
6. The sagas as documenting the development of Icelandic national identity.
7. The sagas as documenting power relationships in early Icelandic society (e.g., the relationship between the chieftain (goði) and the local farming community).
8. The sagas as documenting early Icelandic beliefs in the supernatural.

You are entitled, in fact encouraged, to contest the notion that the sagas are reliable cultural or historical sources but be sure to focus on the specific aspect (women, feuds, courtship, etc.) presented in your selected topic rather than spending a disproportionate word-count on the reliability question per se. The word “early” = “in the period within which the sagas are set.”

See instructions on research methods, information on grading policy, etc. included with Assignment 1.

Word limit: about 1500 words.

Due date: See Course Schedule (below) for deadline.

Assignment Three (20%)

Quizzes: 2 @ 10% each = 20% total

Quizzes will cover the content of the sagas set for the first two-thirds of the course. They are timed as far as possible so as to precede class discussions and will focus on major personages and events. Knowledge of minutely detailed information, such as genealogies and bit-part players, will not be tested. Dates and topics for quizzes are notified in the Course Schedule (see below). “Pop” quizzes are not used in this course. Make-up quizzes will be possible only on the basis of accommodations authorized by the Arts Counsellor.

Quiz 1: The Saga of the Volsungs, Egil’s saga, Eirik the Red’s Saga.

Quiz 2: The Saga of Hrafnkel, Gisli Sursson’s Saga, The Saga of the People of Laxardal.

See the information on grading given with Assignment 1 above. You may query your grade after the class where the quiz is returned if the query relates to a possible arithmetic error.

Final examination (40%)

Content will be as follows. All questions are worth 10%. It is permissible to repeat material you have used in assignments during the Term but you must not use material more than once within the exam itself. That means, in practice, that while you may write on the same saga more than once in the exam you must not repeat specific ideas and examples. This rule corresponds to the instruction “Avoid duplication of material” in the exam question paper. Your aim should be to show coverage of the course materials.

Question 1: quiz on The Saga of the People of Laxardal, King Harald’s Saga, and The Tale of Sarcastic Halli (questioning as in quizzes set for Assignment 3)

Question 2: brief commentaries on a selection of excerpts from the sagas

Question 3: a literary essay (topics to be similar to those set for Assignment 1)

Question 4: a cultural studies essay (topics to be similar to those set for Assignment 2)

Note that in the exam, in addition to standard University rules, you are also instructed not to question the proctor about the substance of the questions unless you have compelling reason to suspect an error in the question-paper.

Grades will be assessed additively, in other words your grades for the individual pieces of assessable work (the two essays + quizzes + the exam) will be simply added together to produce your final grade. To monitor your progress during the term all you need to do is sum the grades you have scored so far.

Policy on extensions

Extensions on essays and quizzes will not normally be possible. Penalty for late submission will normally include withholding of feedback on your performance. It may also, depending on the precise circumstances, involve the reduction of your grade. If, however, you can demonstrate that you are incurring personal hardship of some kind (commonly because of illness, bereavement, or financial crisis) special accommodation can be given. On such matters you should consult the Arts Counsellor, not the instructor. Please see the sheet entitled “Information for students”, issued by the English Department, for further guidance.

COURSE SCHEDULE

This schedule will be adhered to as far as practicable during the Term but it may be necessary to modify it in some respects. Modifications will be notified in advance. Notification in class time is deemed sufficient. Please do not request e-mail or phone notifications.