Islands in the West: Classical Myth and the Medieval Norse and Irish Geographical Imagination

Matthias Egeler

Islands in the West: Classical Myth and the Medieval Norse and Irish Geographical Imagination
Format
Hardback
Publisher
Brepols N.V.
Country
Belgium
Published
11 October 2017
Pages
357
ISBN
9782503569383

Islands in the West: Classical Myth and the Medieval Norse and Irish Geographical Imagination

Matthias Egeler

This monograph traces the history of one of the most prominent types of geographical myths of the North-West Atlantic Ocean: transmarine otherworlds of blessedness and immortality. Taking the mythologization of the Viking Age discovery of North America in the earliest extant account of Vinland (‘Wine-Land’) and the Norse transmarine otherworlds of Hvitramannaland (‘The Land of White Men’) and the Odainsakr/GlAesisvellir (‘Field of the Not-Dead’/‘Shining Fields’) as its starting point, the book explores the historical entanglements of these imaginative places in a wider European context. It follows how these Norse otherworld myths adopt, adapt, and transform concepts from early Irish vernacular tradition and Medieval Latin geographical literature, and pursues their connection to the geographical mythology of classical antiquity. In doing so, it shows how myths as far distant in time and space as Homer’s Elysian Plain and the transmarine otherworlds of the Norse are connected by a continuous history of creative processes of adaptation and reinterpretation. Furthermore, viewing this material as a whole, the question arises as to whether the Norse mythologization of the North Atlantic might not only have accompanied the Norse westward expansion that led to the discovery of North America, but might even have been among the factors that induced it.

This item is not currently in-stock. It can be ordered online and is expected to ship in approx 4 weeks

Our stock data is updated periodically, and availability may change throughout the day for in-demand items. Please call the relevant shop for the most current stock information. Prices are subject to change without notice.

Sign in or become a Readings Member to add this title to a wishlist.