THE SIXTEENTH INTERNATIONAL SAGA CONFERENCE SAGAS AND SPACE 9TH – 15TH AUGUST 2015 UNIVERSITY OF ZURICH & UNIVERSITY OF BASEL, SWITZERLAND PREPRINTS OF ABSTRACTS The Sixteenth International Saga Conference Sagas and Space 9th – 15th August 2015, University of Zurich and University of Basel Preprints of Abstracts Edited by Jürg Glauser, Klaus Müller-Wille, Anna Katharina Richter and Lukas Rösli Published by Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Skandinavische Studien c/o Abteilung für Nordische Philologie Deutsches Seminar Universität Zürich Print: ADAG Copy Shop Universitätsstrasse 8006 Zürich All rights reserved. Copyright © 2015, the Contributors. ISBN: 978-3-033-05167-6 https://sagaconference.unibas.ch/downloads Cover image: The first map of the Swiss Confederation by Albrecht von Bonstetten, 1480. In: Ms. Lat. 5656, fol. 8, National Library of France, Paris. Cover design by Anna Katharina Richter and Andi Gredig, Deutsches Seminar der Universität Zürich. Preface The general theme of The Sixteenth International Saga Conference which is held from the 9th to the 15th August 2015 at the University of Zurich and the University of Basel, Switzerland, is Sagas and Space. This Preprint Publication is principally meant to be a tool to assist participants in deciding which lectures, papers, roundtable discussions and posters to attend, and to have the possibility to read abstracts again even after the conference has ended. Papers and Project Presentations will be presented in one of the following thematic Strands: 1) Constructing Space 2) Mediality 3) Textuality and Manuscript Transmission 4) Reception of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature 5) Continental Europe and Medieval Scandinavia 6) Literatures of Eastern Scandinavia 7) Bodies and Senses in the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8) Open Altogether, the Preprint Publication includes abstracts of the four Plenary Lectures, the 190 Papers (including Project Presentations), the five Roundtable Discussions, and the five Posters. The editors have only standardized the lay-out of the contributions and have proofread them and corrected minor errors like orthographic fails, but not changed the texts themselves. The authors have had the possibility to check their texts online on the website of the Saga Conference before publishing, and the final responsibility for each abstract rests with its author. Zurich, July 2015 The editors 3 4 Contents Plenary Lectures Pernille Hermann, Aarhus University, Denmark The Mind’s Eye: Memory, Space and the Senses in Old Norse Literature ................................................. 22 Judith Jesch, University of Nottingham, UK Runes and Verse: The Medialities of Early Scandinavian Poetry ................................................................. 23 Edith Marold, Universität Kiel, Germany Mythical Landscapes in Skaldic Poetry .................................................................................................................... 24 Torfi H. Tulinius, University of Iceland, Iceland ‘Á Kálfskinni’: Sagas and the Space of Literature ................................................................................................ 25 Posters Árni Einarsson, University of Iceland, Iceland Allegorical space in saga literature. Rauðúlfs þáttur .......................................................................................... 28 Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir, Emily Lethbridge et al., University of Iceland, Iceland Breytileiki Njáls sögu / The Variance of Njáls saga: Preliminary Conclusion ......................................... 29 Ellert Þór Jóhannsson, University of Copenhagen, Denmark A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose Online – Structure and Features .............................................................. 30 Regina Jucknies, Universität zu Köln, Germany Sällskap för östnordisk filologi .................................................................................................................................... 32 Lucy Keens, University College London, UK The sexually grotesque in the Íslendingasögur .................................................................................................... 33 5 Roundtable Discussions Convener: Matthew Driscoll (Copenhagen) Participants: Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir (Reykjavík), Helen Leslie-Jakobsen (Bergen), Jeffrey Love (Stockholm), Beeke Stegmann (Copenhagen) Roundtable 2 New directions in Fornaldarsaga studies ............................................................................................................... 36 Convener: Jon Gunnar Jørgensen (Oslo) Participants: Alison Finlay (London), Stefanie Gropper (Tübingen), Lars Lönnroth (Göteborg), Marie Novotná (Prague) Roundtable 4 Translating the Sagas ....................................................................................................................................................... 37 Conveners: Emily Lethbridge (Reykjavík), Sandra Schneeberger (Zurich) Participants: Haukur Þorgeirsson (Reykjavík), Laurent Di Filippo (Basel/Metz), Odd Einar Haugen (Bergen) Roundtable 5 Old Norse-Icelandic Culture and Digital Media .................................................................................................... 38 Convener: Stephen A. Mitchell (Harvard) Participants: Stefan Brink (Aberdeen), Terry Gunnell (Reykjavík), Verena Höfig (Berkeley), Slavica Ranković (Leeds), Sverrir Jakobsson (Reykjavík) Roundtable 3 Memory Studies and Old Norse ................................................................................................................................... 39 Convener: Judy Quinn (Cambridge) Participants: Margaret Clunies Ross (Sydney), Frog (Helsinki), Gísli Sigurðsson (Reykjavík), Kate Heslop (Berkeley), Carolyne Larrington John McKinnell (Durham), Brittany Schorn (Cambridge) Roundtable 1 (Oxford), Eddic Studies ....................................................................................................................................................................... 40 6 Papers Sirpa Aalto, University of Oulu, Finland Constructing Space Neighbour or enemy at the gates? Construction of space between the Sámi and the Norwegians in the sagas ................................................................................................................................ 42 Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir, University of Iceland, Iceland Mediality Heroic Legends in Icelandic Art .................................................................................................................................. 43 Malo Adeux, University of Iceland, Iceland Constructing Space Hreiðars þáttr: the construction of a foolish hero ............................................................................................... 44 Aldís Sigurðardóttir, Simonetta Battista, Ellert Þór Jóhannsson, Þorbjörg Helgadóttir, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Open The Old Norse Prose dictionary project ― past, present and future (Project Presentation) ........... 46 Ármann Jakobsson, University of Iceland, Iceland Constructing Space Troll Space ............................................................................................................................................................................ 48 Arngrímur Vídalín, University of Iceland, Iceland Bodies and Senses in the Scandinavian Middle Ages Demons, Muslims, Wrestling-Champions: A History of Blámenn from the 12th to the 19th Century ................................................................................................................................................... 49 Árni Einarsson, University of Iceland, Iceland Open Fencing off the Saga landscape: the 10th century settlement pattern of NE Iceland revealed by 600 km of turf walls (Project Presentation) ................................................................................. 50 Árni Einarsson, University of Iceland, Iceland Constructing Space Kingship and Pythagorean space ............................................................................................................................... 51 David Ashurst, Durham University, UK Open ‘Fátt mun ljótt á Baldri’: Towards an Aesthetics of Old Norse Mythology ................................................ 53 Barbara Auger, Université Stendhal 3, France Constructing Space Perceptual Navigation in the Late Viking Age ....................................................................................................... 55 Maja Bäckvall, Uppsala University, Sweden Mediality Runes in space: Reading a runic inscription over multiple surfaces (Project Presentation) ................................................................................................................ 56 Sverre Bagge, University of Bergen, Norway Constructing Space Haraldr harðráði in Morkinskinna and Heimskringla ........................................................................................ 57 Philipp Bailleu, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany Constructing Space Genealogical Space? – Genealogy and the Construction of Space in Hauksbók ...................................... 58 7 Santiago Barreiro, Universidad de Buenos Aires / CONICET, Argentina Constructing Space Production, Consumption and Space in Egils saga ............................................................................................. 59 Grzegorz Bartusik, University of Silesia, Poland Reception of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature Roman civil wars in the Rómverja saga and the attitudes of Icelanders towards the monarchy and the republic (Project Presentation) ...................................................................................