Monsters in Society: Alterity, Transgression, and the Use of the Past in Medieval Iceland

Authors

Rebecca Merkelbach

Files

Document Type

Monograph

Description

Dragons, giants, and the monsters of learned discourse are rarely encountered in the Sagas of Icelanders, and therefore, the general teratological focus on physical monstrosity yields only limited results when applied to them. This, however, does not equal an absence of monstrosity — it only means that monstrosity is conceived of differently. This book shifts the view of monstrosity from the physical to the social, accounting for the unique social circumstances presented in the Íslendingasögur and demonstrating how closely interwoven the social and the monstrous are in this genre. Employing literary and cultural theory as well as anthropological and historical approaches, it reads the monsters of the Íslendingasögur in their literary and socio-cultural context, demonstrating that they are not distractions from feud and conflict, but that they are in fact an intrinsic part of the genre’s re-imagining of the past for the needs of the present.

Publication Date

11-4-2019

Publisher

DeGruyter and Medieval Institute Publications

Imprint

Medieval Institute Publications

City

Berlin

ISBN

9781501514227

Keywords

sagas, medieval Iceland, monstrosity, monster studies, Íslendingasögur

Disciplines

European History | History of Gender | Medieval Studies

Citation for Published Book

Merkelbach, Rebecca. Monsters in Society: Alterity, Transgression, and the Use of the Past in Medieval Iceland. Berlin: DeGruyter and Medieval Institute Publications, 2019.