This project began with an event entitled
Medieval and Modern: An Interdisciplinary Symposium. The idea for it was first suggested by Birna Bjarnadóttir, who envisioned a discussion of Halldór Laxness’s medievalist novel Gerpla (1952) over the course of a snowy Winnipeg afternoon in March of 2015. The original event was sponsored by the Icelandic Department and the English Department (now DEFTM), along with the University of Manitoba Institute for the Humanities (UMIH). The symposium seemed to expand of its own accord, leading to further events including one in March of 2016 in which Fóstbræðra saga was the topic of Ármann Jakobsson’s keynote address, with support from additional sponsors like the U of M’s Arts Endowment Fund, Distinguished Visiting Lecturer Series, and Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal. I owe thanks to my fellow organizers for these events, the members of the UMIH research group Circle of Premodern Students (CoPS). I held a term as UMIH Research Affiliate while working on this project; particular thanks are due to David Watt and Paul Jenkins. The Icelandic Department’s support was similarly crucial from start to finish; I would like to thank P. J. Buchan and Catari Macaulay Gauthier, and note the support of the Grettir Eggertson fund.
When it came to the possibility of publications coming out of the symposiums, I noted that there was potential in continuing the discussions on
Fóstbræðrasaga and Gerpla; I am grateful to Christopher Crocker for suggesting Scandinavian-Canadian Studies as a venue for this project, among other inspired suggestions. The Association for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies in Canada (AASSC) offered an incredibly welcoming forum for discussion of work related to the special volume at its 2017 and 2018 annual meetings in Toronto and Regina respectively, and I would like to thank the many members of AASSC who contributed to ensuring the success of those events. The final discussion of this research occurred in Ísafjörður in October of 2018, at a symposium entitled Lesið í sköpunarkraft Vestfjarða The Creative Power of the West Fjords, organized by Birna Bjarnadóttir and Ingi Björn Guðnason, at which point this project may have in some sense come full circle. The support of the University of Iceland, and of Jón Atli Benediktsson and Guðmundur Hálfdánarson in particular, is hereby gratefully acknowledged.
I would like to thank Elin Thordarson and P. J. Buchan for their invaluable translation assistance on this project, as well as the other translators whose work appears here: Julian Mendoza, Pétur Knútsson, Larissa Kyzer, and Paul Richardson. I am grateful to all of the contributors for both their inspiring work and their patience with the editing process; it has been an incredible learning experience. Thanks are due to Stephen Cowdery of the website
Laxness in Translation for his help in providing information and obtaining materials. I am grateful to Silja Aðalsteinsdóttir for her help with permissions for Kristinn Andrésson’s article. Much of the research undertaken in Winnipeg was enabled by The Icelandic Collection of the Elizabeth Dafoe Library, curated by the late Sigrid Johnson. Sigrid and many other wonderful librarians helped make this project possible; please see each article’s notes for details. Finally, I would like to thank Helga Thorson for her guidance, Martin Holmes for his patience, and the many scholars on both sides of the Atlantic who responded helpfully and humbly to requests for contributions, comments, and suggestions.
Translations
Helga Kress’s
The Culture of the Grotesque in Old Icelandic Literature, Ástráður Eysteinsson’s Is Halldór Laxness the Author of <title level="m">Fóstbræðra saga? and Kristinn E. Andrésson’s A Modern-Day Saga in Fancy Dress are English translations of articles previously published in Icelandic. Citations of the original Icelandic publications are followed by appropriate Acknowledgements and Permissions for these translations below.
Andrésson, Kristinn E. 1972. Gerpla. Tímarit Máls og menningar 33 (3–4): 273–91.
*This translation appears by permission of the journal, as the author (1901-1973) is deceased. The translation is by Larissa Kyzer (see page for details).
Eysteinsson, Ástráður. 1990. Er Halldór Laxness höfundur Fóstbræðrasögu? Um höfundarvirkni, textatengsl og þýðingu í sambandi Laxness við fornsögurnar. Skáldskaparmál: Tímarit um íslenskar bókmenntir fyrri alda 1: 171–88. *This translation appears by permission of the author; the translation is by Julian Mendoza, in collaboration with the author (see page for details).
Kress, Helga. 1987. Bróklindi Falgeirs: <title level="m">Fóstbræðra saga og hláturmenning miðalda. Skírnir 161 (2): 271–86. *This translation appears by permission of the author; the translation is by the author, with assistance by Elin Thordarson and P. J. Buchan (see page for details).
Figures
- Page . Seeress’s Prophecy (November 2018). Credit: Jenna Glidden (Courtesy of the artist).
- Page . A leaf from the early fourteenth-century manuscript AM132 fol.(170r) or Möðruvallabók (Courtesy of handrit.is).