Representations of shapeshifters are prominent in medieval culture and they are particularly abundant in the vernacular literatures of the societies around the North Sea. Some of the figures in these stories remain well known in later folklore and often even in modern media, such as werewolves, dragons, berserkir and bird-maidens. Incorporating studies about Old English, Norse, Latin, Irish, and Welsh literature, this collection of essays marks an important new contribution to the study of medieval shapeshifters. Each essay highlights how shapeshifting cannot be studied in isolation, but intersects with many other topics, such as the supernatural, monstrosity, animality, gender and identity. Contributors to Shapeshifters in Medieval North Atlantic Literature come from different intellectual traditions, embracing a multidisciplinary approach combining influences from literary criticism, history, philology, and anthropology.
Author(s): Santiago Francisco Barreiro, Luciana Mabel Cordo Russo
Series: The Early Medieval North Atlantic
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 188
City: Amsterdam
Cover
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Medieval Thought and Shapeshifting
Santiago Barreiro and Luciana Cordo Russo
1. Wundor wearð on wege ‘a wonder happened on the way’
Shifting shapes and meanings in Old English Riddles
Rafał Borysławski
2. The Big Black Cats of Vatnsdalr and Other Trolls
Talking about shapeshifting in medieval Iceland
Ármann Jakobsson
3. The Hoard Makes the Dragon
Fáfnir as a Shapeshifter
Santiago Barreiro
4. Eigi í mannligu eðli
Shape, Monstrosity and Berserkism in the Íslendingasögur
Rebecca Merkelbach
5. The Cursed and the Committed
A Study in Literary Representations of ‘Involuntary’ Shapeshifting in Early Medieval Irish and Old Norse Narrative Traditions
Camilla With Pedersen
6. Unde sunt aues istae?
Notes on Bird-Shapeshifting, Bird Messengers, and Early Medieval Hagiography
Santiago Disalvo
7. Sin, Punishment, and Magic
Changing Form in Medieval Welsh Literature
Luciana Cordo Russo
Index
