Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature
- The Cambridge History of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Contexts
- 1 History
- 2 Manuscripts and Textual Culture
- 3 Poetic Language, Form and Metre
- 4 Theoretical Approaches
- 5 Reception
- 6 Landscape and Material Culture
- Part II The Distant Past
- Part III The Saga Age
- Part IV The New Christian World
- PART V Beyond Iceland
- Part VI Compilations
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Reception
from Part I - Contexts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 February 2024
- The Cambridge History of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature
- The Cambridge History of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Contexts
- 1 History
- 2 Manuscripts and Textual Culture
- 3 Poetic Language, Form and Metre
- 4 Theoretical Approaches
- 5 Reception
- 6 Landscape and Material Culture
- Part II The Distant Past
- Part III The Saga Age
- Part IV The New Christian World
- PART V Beyond Iceland
- Part VI Compilations
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter focuses on the reception of Old Norse-Icelandic literature. It begins with a discussion of the definition of the term ‘reception’ and moves on to describe the beginnings of medievalism in Europe and its roots in social and political change. The relationship between nationalism and a ‘Nordic’ or ‘Germanic’ racial identity is explored, and the role of Old Norse myth in politics, ideology and propaganda is analysed. Following a survey of early modern and eighteenth-century European responses to Old Norse literature, including the work of Paul-Henri Mallet, and nineteenth-century translations of Old Norse literature and the work of Jacob Grimm, the discussion moves on to German nationalism and Old Norse, culminating in the National Socialist appropriation of Old Norse mythology and motifs. The use of medieval Icelandic literature to reconstruct a supposed pre-Christian Germanic religion is outlined, and the anti-Christian and anti-Jewish attitudes of so-called völkisch thought explained. The subsequent rise of Neopaganism throughout the world is the subject of the rest of the chapter, with special attention to the racist ideology evident in various Neopagan groups.
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- The Cambridge History of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature , pp. 91 - 110Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024