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Carlsen, Christian: Visions of the Afterlife
in Old Norse Literature
Over the past few decades, scholarship within the field of Old Norse studies has increasingly recognised the influence of Christian thought and art in shaping the distinctive cultural heritage of this region. ...
Detaljer/Details
The formative impact of these impulses on native literature should not be underestimated. Scriptural texts, homiletic writings, saints’ lives, and theological treatises found their way to Iceland and Norway at an early stage following the political conversion of these countries around 1000 AD. Examples of these major branches of Latin literature survive in translation among the earliest written documents from Western Scandinavia, datable to around 1200. Visionary accounts of the Christian hereafter represent one further distinct Latin genre which has left substantial early traces in Northern codices. This genre’s evolution in Western Scandinavian literature forms the object of investigation here.
Medieval afterlife visions are worthy of special critical consideration for a number of reasons. Enjoying as it did considerable popularity, the genre represents a distinctive and important cultural phenomenon in medieval Europe. The fact that this genre travelled widely, while at the same time maintaining a relatively tight set of core conventions, makes it possible to trace developments within the tradition over time and across geographical space. Beyond these formal characteristics, this particular branch of literature also deserves attention because it engages with several of the most challenging and notorious questions of medieval civilisation: What happens to the human soul after death? How does a person’s earthly behaviour affect his or her fate in the otherworld? What is this otherworld like?
The answers sought, and given in response, to these questions are not always uniform. They reflect the prevailing literary tastes and motifs, patterns of thought, values and ethics of the cultural settings in which they were articulated. The potential of the narratives to shed light on the culture and mentality surrounding their composition and use governs my analyses in the five main chapters of this book. To offer a context for the main discussion, the introductory chapter outlines the genre’s historical connections with Western Scandinavia, and defines a primary corpus to be considered in the subsequent chapters. Chapter 2 is concerned with the different generic and narrative contexts in the Old Norse literary corpus into which characteristics of the Latin genre have been integrated. The literary motif of the otherworld journey and some key symbols attached to it are examined in chapters 3 and 4, with special attention to their local variations and implications. The final main chapter considers depictions of otherworldly punishment and reward, focusing in particular on the contemporary social and ethical ideals encoded in them.
Contents
Contents 5
Preface 7
1 Introduction 11
1.1 Outlines of the Medieval Hereafter 11
1.2 Medieval Visionary Writing 20
1.3 Visiones in Scandinavia 33
1.4 Approaching Old Norse Visions of the Afterlife 39
1.5 Scope of Primary Material and Criteria for Selection 44
1.5.1 Voluspá 46
1.5.2 Rannveigar leizla 49
1.5.3 Eiríks saga víðforla 51
1.5.4 Gísla saga Súrssonar 53
1.5.5 Sólarljóð 54
1.5.6 Draumkvedet 57
2 Contexts of Vision 61
2.1 Hagiographic Visions 63
2.1.1 Rannveig’s Testimony 63
2.1.2 The Conversion of Óláfr Tryggvason 69
2.2 Afterlife Dreams in a Family Saga 74
2.3 Eddaic Visions 77
2.3.1 The Mythic Seeress 77
2.3.2 Sólarljóð 82
2.4 A Ballad and a Quest 89
2.4.1 Draumkvedet 89
2.4.2 Eiríkr the Far-Travelled 95
2.5 Summary 100
3 Death and the Journey 1: Passing Away 103
3.1 Glimpses of a Traditional Passage 103
3.1.1 Ódáinsakr 110
3.1.2 Á norna stóli 115
3.1.3 The Vengeful Fetch 124
3.2 Guides in the Old Norse Otherworld 127
3.2.1 Gísli’s Dream Women 131
3.2.2 The Three Northern Saints of Rannveigar leizla 139
3.3 Summary 145
4 Death and the Journey 2: Aids and Obstacles 147
4.1 The Otherworld Shoe 147
4.1.1 Shoe Symbolism in Myth and Ritual 157
4.2 The Otherworld Bridge 162
4.2.1 The Gjallar Bridge 165
4.2.2 The Steinbogi of Eiríks saga víðforla 170
4.3 Summary 179
5 Envisaging the Ideal 181
5.1 Right and Wrong in the Old Norse Hereafter 184
5.1.1 Kinship Relations 184
5.1.2 Religious Discipline 193
5.1.3 Theft and Public Ridicule 197
5.2 The Heavenly Hall 202
5.2.1 Impressions of Comfort: Sólarljóð and Gísla saga 203
5.2.2 Impressions of Status: Rannveigar leizla and Eiríks saga 209
5.2.3 The Hall in Germanic Poetry 217
5.2.4 The Hall-Paradigm in Voluspá 220
5.3 Summary 226
6 Conclusions 229
List of Illustrations 237
Bibliography 239
Primary Literature 239
Secondary Literature 249
Indices 269
1 Personal Names 269
2 Works 275
3 Manuscripts 279
ISBN 978-82-7099-836-4, 282 pp., hardcover
Format: 16x23,5 cm, weight 0,6 kg, year of publication 2015, language: English