Old Norse mythology / John Lindow.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lindow, John, author.

Series:

World mythology in theory and everyday life

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mythology, Norse.

Old Norse literature--History and criticism.

Old Norse literature.

Icelandic literature--History and criticism.

Icelandic literature.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xi, 231 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2021]

Summary:

"This book treats from the perspective of the series "World mythologies in theory and in everyday life" the body of texts from medieval Scandinavia, mostly Iceland, usually known as "Norse mythology" or "Scandinavian mythology." Specifically, it constitutes a case study of a "literary or textual mythology," that is, a mythology from the past that we know only through written texts that have been left to us, augmented in a few cases by artifacts and images. This case is particularly interesting because the texts (with a tiny handful of enigmatic exceptions) were recorded centuries after the Nordic peoples had abandoned the religion associated with the mythology and converted to Christianity. The mythology lived on without direct connection to ritual activity or religious conviction. Drawing both on sources from before the conversion and on comparative analysis, it is certainly possible to reach informed inferences about the mythology before the conversion to Christianity-that is, when it existed as part of the pre-Christian religion of the Nordic peoples and their successors. From the perspective of the mythologies of the world, what is perhaps most important about these inferences is that this pre-Christian mythology was not a canonical mythology, since it almost certainly lacked a canon of sacred texts such as one finds in the great world religions of today. The focus of the book is not the mythology in and of itself, as would be true of a handbook, but rather how particular historical and intellectual circumstances formed conceptions about it."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. From Cosmogony To Cosmic Eschatology: The System Of Old Norse Mythology

2. Old Norse Mythology As Sacred Narrative: Orr's Fishing Expedition

3. Old Norse Mythology And Learned Medieval Speculation

4. Old Norse Mythology And Ideology (And Entertainment).

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Lindow, John, Old Norse mythology

ISBN:

9780190852252

0190852259

9780197554487

0197554482

OCLC:

1157768777

Publisher Number:

99986716444