Alternative facts and plausible fictions in the Northern European past: how politics and culture have written and rewritten history
The use of the past for contemporary purposes has been a feature of historical and archaeological investigation from ancient times. This ‘politicization of the past’ is often associated with, at best, an inadvertent detachment from an objective use of evidence, and at worst, its wilful misuse. Such use of the past is perhaps most evident in the construction of narratives of nations and ethnic groups — particularly in relation to origins or the perceived ‘golden ages’ of peoples.
This book seeks to assess the role played by different ideologies in the shaping of the past, from early times up until the present day, in the interpretation of the history and archaeology of Northern Europe, whether in Northern Europe itself or further afield. It also considers how those who research, interpret, and present the Northern European past should respond to such uses. The chapters drawn together here explore key questions, asking how contemporary ideologies of identity have shaped the past, what measures should be taken to discourage an inaccurate understanding of the past, and if scholars should draw on the past in order to counter racism and xenophobia, or if this can itself lead to potentially dangerous misunderstandings of history.
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Storyworlds and worldbuilding in Old Norse-Icelandic literature
The storyworlds of Old Norse-Icelandic literature are multifaceted and variable, ranging from the worlds of heroic poetry and popular romance to the recognizable narrative universe built by the Sagas of Icelanders. Despite this, they have rarely been explored, and narratological theories of storyworlds or fantasy scholarship have had little impact on the field. Yet given that every story creates its own storyworld, it can be assumed that Old Norse-Icelandic literary texts, too, build worlds — and these worlds are diverse and complex, as shown by the contributors in this volume: they constantly engage with one another, exploring, shaping, and expanding, while also entering into a dialogue with the primary world from which they draw.
This volume brings together scholars from different areas of Old Norse-Icelandic studies to explore questions related to not only the storyworlds of medieval Icelandic literature, but also those of legal and learned texts, and to the way that they are built. Together they inquire into the nature of these worlds, into their preservation and transmission in manuscripts, their transmediality, transnarrativity, and reception. In doing so, these inquiries showcase the breadth of new perspectives on medieval Icelandic literature made possible by the application of narratological theory in its study.
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