Heil, This isn't a debate, but I wasn't sure where to place it. If moderators wish to move it, please feel free to do so. I saw a forthcoming book title at work that I thought may be of interest to our Asatru readers (and perhaps also to Pagans and those who study this area of history).
Note that I am not affiliated with the author or with Cornell University Press. I am merely passing on the title in case it is of interest.
Speak Useful Words or Say Nothing: Old Norse Studiesby Joseph Harris
Cornell University Press (publisher)
ISBN-10: 0935995064
ISBN-13: 9780935995060
Table of contents:
1. Christian form and Christian meaning in
Halldórs Þáttr 12.
Ogmundar Þáttr dytts ok Gunnars helmings: unity and literary relations
3. The masterbuilder tale in Snorri's
Edda and two sagas
4. Theme and genre in some
Íslendinga Þœttir5.
Guðrúnarbrögð and the Saxon lay of Grimhild's perfidy
6. The king in disguise: an international popular tale in two Old Icelandic adaptations
7. Satire and the heroic life: two studies (
Helgakviða Hundingbana I, 18 and Bjorn Hítdœlakappi's
Grámagaflím8. Eddic poetry as oral poetry: the evidence of parallel passages in the Helgi poems for questions of composition and performance
9. Saga as historical novel
10. Gender and genre: short and long forms in the saga literature
11. Love and death in the
Männerbund: an essay with special reference to the
Bjarkamál and
The Battle of Maldon12. Romancing the rune: aspects of literacy in early Scandinavian orality
This selection by Susan E. Deskis and Thomas D. Hill of twelve of Joseph Harris's most important essays underscores the range of his work from critical readings of canonical texts to philological elucidation of Old Norse and Old English literary works to discussions of larger theoretical issues such as oral theory. One of the central problems of medieval literary scholarship is the aesthetics of traditional and oral literature, and how and whether one can meaningfully discuss the literary history of an oral genre. Harris's studies of such topics as the Old Norse short narrative and of the Masterbuilder tale focus precisely on such problems and offer brilliant readings of specific texts as well as models of literary historical discourse.
Speak Useful Words or Say Nothing also shows that Harris's work frequently bridges the divide between the Latin and Christian sources and the native vernacular traditions that together found their way into Old Norse and Old English literature.
Dilber MC Theme by HarzeM