From Iceland to the Americas: Vinland and Historical Imagination
https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526128751/ (with full contents)
Edited by Tim William Machan and Jón Karl Helgason
Book Information
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-5261-2875-1
Pages: 304
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Series: Manchester Medieval Literature and Culture
Price: £80.00 / $120.00
Published Date: April 2020
Description
This volume investigates the reception of a small historical fact with wide-ranging social, cultural and imaginative consequences. Inspired by Leif Eiriksson's visit to Vinland in about the year 1000, novels, poetry, history, politics, arts and crafts, comics, films and video games have all come to reflect rising interest in the medieval Norse and their North American presence. Uniquely in reception studies, From Iceland to the Americas approaches this dynamic between Nordic history and its reception by bringing together international authorities on mythology, language, film and cultural studies, as well as on the literature that has dominated critical reception. Collectively, the chapters not only explore the connections among medieval Iceland and the modern Americas, but also probe why medieval contact has become a modern cultural touchstone.
Contents
11 'Who is this upstart Hitler?': Norse gods and American comics during the Second World War - Jón Karl Helgason
12 'There's no going back': The Dark Knight and Balder's descent to Hel - Dustin Geeraert
Editors
Tim William Machan is Professor of English at the University of Notre Dame
Jón Karl Helgason is Professor of Icelandic and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Iceland
