Hall, ATP orcid.org/0000-0002-1479-4441 (2018) Fornaldarsögur and financial crisis: Bjarni Bjarnason’s Mannorð. In: Driscoll, MJ, Hufnagel, SV, Lavender, PT and Stegmann, B, (eds.) The legendary legacy: Transmission and reception of the Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda. The Viking Collection, 24 . University Press of Southern Denmark , Odense, Denmark , pp. 349-373. ISBN 978-87-408-3103-0
Abstract
With the exception of work on Völsunga saga, there has been relatively little research on the modern reception of fornaldarsögur. This article examines Bjarni Bjarnason's 2011 novel Mannorð, which draws heavily on Gautreks saga. Bjarni's work is shown to belong to a trend in Icelandic novels touching on the 2008 financial crisis: these often draw on medieval sources, specifically from outside the usual nationalist canon of Eddas and Íslendingasögur. Mannorð tells of a fictitious banker (inspired by the real-life Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson) seeking to regain his reputation following the Crash, and models this banker on Gautreks saga's sinister Óðinn-hero, Starkaður. In doing so, the novel satirises and subverts Björgólfur Thor's enthusiasm for associating himself with medieval vikings and specifically with the god Þór. Unusually for Icelandic financial-crisis novels, Mannorð also situates Iceland's role in the financial crisis productively in a wider global frame, using the story from Skáldskaparmál of how Óðinn killed nine slaves by making them compete for a whetstone to explore how Icelandic finance is implicated in the oppression of the developing world.
Metadata
Item Type: | Book Section |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Editors: |
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Keywords: | Fornaldarsögur; 2008 Financial Crisis; Icelandic literature; Bjarni Bjarnason |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of English (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Leverhulme Trust IAF-2013-011 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 13 Sep 2017 12:42 |
Last Modified: | 08 Mar 2018 11:36 |
Published Version: | http://www.universitypress.dk/shop/the-legendary-l... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | University Press of Southern Denmark |
Series Name: | The Viking Collection |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:121147 |