The Library of Congress and Cornell University Library organized a
scholarly symposium on Old Norse sagas for 24 and 25 May 2000 at the Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C. This symposium, Saga Literature and the Shaping of Icelandic Culture,
took place in the Mumford Room of the Madison Building.
Saga Literature and the Shaping of Icelandic Culture coincided with the Washington
venue of a traveling exhibition, Living and Reliving the Icelandic Sagas, which
opened on 24 May and will run through 15 July 2000. The exhibition is a collaborative
effort of the National and University Library of Iceland, the Library of Congress, the
University of Manitoba Library and Cornell University Library. (More information on the
exhibition and participating institutions is available through a link on the home page of
the Fiske Icelandic Collection at http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/fiske.)
Saga Literature and the Shaping of Icelandic Culture comprised five thematic
sessions. These sessions, with names of our presenters, appear below. The symposium
organizers intend to publish the proceedings of Saga Literature and the Shaping of
Icelandic Culture. Please anticipate updated information at this site about the
publication project.
24 May (Wednesday):
Welcoming remarks by John Van Oudenaren, Chief of the European Division, Library of Congress. John Van Oudenaren then introduced Iceland's Minister of Education and Culture, Björn Bjarnason, who offered words of welcome on behalf of Iceland.
1st session
Sagas and the Icelandic
Manuscript Tradition
"The Manuscript Tradition of the Icelandic Sagas"
Stefán Karlsson, Past Director, Árni Magnússon Institute in Iceland
"Sagas, Manuscripts and the Liberal Arts"
Rudolf Simek, University of Bonn
"The Long and Winding Road: Manuscript Transmission in Post-Medieval Iceland"
Matthew James Driscoll, Arnamagnaean Institute, University of Copenhagen
2nd session (preceded by welcoming remarks from Dr. James Billington, Librarian of Congress)
Sagas and Daily Life in
the Icelandic Commonwealth
"Guđríđr Ţorbjarnardóttir: Transmitter of Pagan Culture and Christian Religion"
Jenny Jochens, Professor Emeritus, Towson State University
"Söguligr atburđr: an Event Worthy of a Tale"
Vésteinn Ólason, Director, Árni Magnússon Institute in Iceland
"Social Memory and the Sagas: The Case of Egils saga"
Jesse Byock, University of California, Los Angeles
"A Note on the Prehistory of Saga Criticism"
Theodore M. Andersson, Stanford University
25 May (Thursday):
3rd session
Voyages and Travel in
Medieval Europe as Depicted in Saga Literature
"Home and Away: the Semantics of Travel in Icelandic Saga Literature"
Margaret Clunies Ross, University of Sydney
"Travel and the Mapping of Icelandic Identity in Saga Narrative"
Geraldine Barnes, University of Sydney
"Where Microspace Meets Macrospace: The Travels of Norna-Gest and Abbot Nikolas"
Lars Lönnroth, University of Göteborg
4th session
Influence of the Sagas on
Modern Nordic Literature
"A Modern Biography of Hallgerđur: Icelandic Sagas, Henry James and Dorothy James Roberts"
Jón Karl Helgason, Independent Scholar
"The Narrative Genius of the North"
Régis Boyer, Professor Emeritus, University of Paris—Sorbonne
"Grettir and Bjartur: Realism and the Supernatural in Medieval and Modern Icelandic Literature"
Torfi H. Tulinius, University of Iceland
5th session
Saga Literature and its
Relation to Modern Visual Arts
"Picturing the Sagas: Some Victorian Perspectives"
Andrew Wawn, University of Leeds
"Icelandic Modern Art and the Sagas: Constructing and Deconstructing a Heritage"
Ađalsteinn Ingólfsson, Director of the Museum of Design, Reykjavík
Plenary Discussion and Closing of Symposium
Kristín Bragadóttir of the National and University Library of Iceland and Patrick J. Stevens of Cornell University Library shared moderation of the symposium sessions.
For further information, please contact the Fiske Icelandic Collection at fiskeref@cornell.edu.