Structure and Meaning in Old Norse Literature

The idea of an anthology of articles representing some recent research trends in Old Norse literary studies originated in connection with the Toulon Saga Conference in 1982, more precisely the narratology section of that conference. Several contributions to this volume are elaborated versions of lectures that were given at Toulon (Andersson, Carle, Clunies Ross and Martin, Lindow, Reichert, Weber); one article (Heinrichs) indeed developed out of the author’s contributions to a discussion of gender roles in Old Norse literature which inadvertently sprang up as an aftermath to several lectures not published here. Authors and editors join in the attempt to demonstrate new methods of textual analysis and literary criticism adapted from methodological approached developed in neighboring fields such as anthropology, ethnology, modern literary criticism and comparative literature.