First full investigation of masculinities in Old Norse-Icelandic literature.

First full investigation of masculinities in Old Norse-Icelandic literature.

Compared to other areas of medieval literature, the question of masculinity in Old Norse-Icelandic literature has been understudied. This is a neglect which this volume aims to rectify. The essays collected here introduce and analyse a spectrum of masculinities, from the sagas of Icelanders, contemporary sagas, kings' sagas, legendary sagas, chivalric sagas, bishops' sagas, and eddic and skaldic verse, producing a broad and multifaceted understanding of what it means to be masculine in Old Norse-Icelandic texts. A critical introduction places the essays in their scholarly context, providing the reader with a concise orientation in gender studies and the study of masculinities in Old Norse-Icelandic literature.
This book's investigation of how masculinities are constructed and challenged within a unique literature is all the more vital in the current climate, in which Old Norse sources are weaponised to support far-right agendas and racist ideologies are intertwined with images of vikings as hypermasculine. This volume counters these troubling narratives of masculinity through explorations of Old Norse literature that demonstrate how masculinity is formed, how it is linked to violence and vulnerability, how it governs men's relationships, and how toxic models of masculinity may be challenged.

JESSICA HANCOCK is a Lecturer in Educational Development at City, University of London; GARETH LLOYD EVANS is Lecturer in Medieval Literature at St Hilda's College, Oxford.

Contributors: Ásdís Egilsdóttir, David Ashurst, Brynja Þorgeirsdóttir, Gareth Lloyd Evans, Oren Falk, Alison Finlay, Jessica Clare Hancock, Jóhanna Katrín Fridriksdóttir, Philip Lavender, Thomas Morcom, Carl Phelpstead, Matthew Roby.

Introduction - Gareth Lloyd Evans and Jessica Clare Hancock
Boyhood, saga-style: frommannsefni tomaðr - Oren Falk
The Licit Love Visit: Masculine Sexual Maturation and the 'Temporary Troll Lover' - Matthew Roby
Female Masculinity and the Sagas of Icelanders - Gareth Lloyd Evans
'With mirthful merriment': Masquerade and Masculinity inMágus saga jarls - Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir
Vulnerable Masculinities and the Vicissitudes of Power inGöngu-Hrólfs saga - Philip Lavender
Masculinity, Christianity, and (Non)Violence - Asdis Egilsdottir
Inclusive Masculinity in Morkinskinna and the Defusal of Kingly Aggression - Thomas Morcom
Emotions of a Vulnerable Viking: Negotiations of Masculinity in Egils saga - Brynja Þorgeirsdóttir
Þat þótti illr fundr: Phallic Aggression in Bjarnar saga Hítdolakappa - Alison Finlay
Male Bedpartners and the 'Intimacies of a Wife': rekkjufélagar and vífs rúnar - David Ashurst
Companions, Conflicts, and Concubines: Clerical Masculinities in Lárentíus saga biskups - Carl Phelpstead
'That which a hand gives a hand or a foot gives a foot': Male Kinship Obligations in the Heroic Poetic Edda and Völsunga saga - Jessica Clare Hancock
Afterword: The Ethics and Urgency of Studying Old Norse Masculinities - Gareth Lloyd Evans and Jessica Clare Hancock