By the Early Middle Ages vernacular aristocratic traditions of heroic narration were firmly established in Western and Northern Europe. Although there are regional, linguistic and formal differences, one can observe a number of similarities. Oral literature disseminates a range of themes that are shared by narratives in most parts of the continent. In all the European regions, this tradition of heroic narration came into contact with Christianity, which led to modifications. Similar processes of adaptation and transformation can be traced everywhere in this field of early European vernacular narrative. But with the increasing specialization of academic fields over the last half century, inter-disciplinary dialogue has become increasingly difficult. The volume is a contribution to renew the inter-disciplinary dialogue about common themes, topics and motifs in Nordic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Germanic literature, and about the different methodologies to explore them.
Author(s): Victor Millet, Heike Sahm (Hrsg.)
Series: Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, 87
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Year: 2014
Language: English, German
Pages: VIII+450
Preface v
Introduction/Einleitung 1
Roberta Frank / Conversational Skills for Heroes 19
Jennifer Neville / Redeeming Beowulf. The Heroic Idiom as Marker of Quality in Old English Poetry 45
Diana Whaley / The Fury of the Northmen and the Poetics of Violence 71
Heike Sahm / Fate and God, Gallows and Cross, Sword and Spear. The Variation of Counterconcepts as Part of the Poetic Diction in the Old Saxon "Heliand" 95
Hildegard L. C. Tristram / Negotiating Heroism and Humour in the "Cattle-Raid of Cooley" ("Táin Bó Cuailnge") 113
Matthias Teichert / Der monströse Heros oder Wenn der ungeheure Held zum Ungeheuer wird. Zur Rezeptionsgeschichte des Figuren-Typus "Drachenkämpfer" in der altnordischen und altenglischen Literatur 143
Udo Friedrich / Held und Narrativ. Zur narrativen Funktion des Heros in der mittelalterlichen Literatur 175
Torfi Tulinius / Deconstructing Snorri. Narrative Structure and Heroism in "Eyrbyggja saga" 195
Hartmut Bleumer / Zwischen Hildebrand und Hadubrand. Held und Zeit im "Hildebrandslied" 209
Victor Millet / Deconstructing the Hero in Early Medieval Heroic Poetry 229
Marianne Ailes / Giving and Receiving. The Integrity of the Hero in the Earliest "Chansons de geste" 241
Anna Mühlherr / Helden und Schwerter. Durchschlagkraft und "agency" in heldenepischem Zusammenhang 259
Wolfgang Haubrichs / Die "Erzählung des Helden" in narrativen Passagen der "Historia Langobardorum" des Paulus Diaconus 277
Wilhelm Heizmann / Die mythische Vorgeschichte des Nibelungenhorts 305
Ernst Hellgardt / Christus und andere Helden. Bemerkungen zu einigen altenglischen Gedichten 339
Harald Haferland / Christus als Lichtbringer und Held. Polarität im "Heliand" und in zeitgenössischen Bildzeugnissen 361
Bernd Bastert / Fremde Helden? Narrative Transcodierung und Konnexion des "Nibelungenlieds" im mittelniederländischen "Nevelingenlied" 385
Joseph Harris / "Svipdagsmál": Gender, Genre, and Reconstruction 403
Index 447
