Fornaldarsagaerne: Myter og virkelighed. Studier i de oldislandske "fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda"

The Legendary Sagas are recovering some of the great popularity they enjoyed in the medieval period. This trio of editors has now arranged two international conferences on 'fornaldarsögur' and published the essays that have grown out of them, first in 'Fornaldarsagornas struktur och ideologi' (Uppsala, 2003) and again in the present volume, 'Fornaldarsagaerne: Myter og virkelighed'. As a theme, "myths and reality" is roomy without being meaningless, and the individual essays take a variety of approaches to both pagan belief systems and scholarly misconceptions. The idea of reality, too, comes under the loupe. These twenty-three essays exemplify the really wonderful breadth of contemporary research. Authors come from multiple disciplinary directions, and they have things to tell us about literature, religious and political history, iconography, ideology, anthropology, and theater history. The intended audience of this volume is one for whom the modern Scandinavian languages pose no difficulties. About half the essays are written in Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish, and the balance are in English.