Exploration of the heroic narratives of the Northern Middle Ages with a focus on both the hero and the heroic ethos in a period or radical cultural, social and religious change and on a particular body of literature, the Scandinavian versions of Germanic heroic narrative. Required of majors.

How does fate work? Which is stronger, love or honor? Can communities manage the destructive power of greed? And how does a hero face their doom – when they have, in the laconic Norse phrase, “two choices, neither of them good”?

Writing among the volcanoes and glaciers of medieval Iceland, authors and poets grappled with these fundamental human questions. Their answers are contained in the heroic legends of the north – tales of gods, valkyries, trolls, slaves, dragons, crusaders, and outlaws.

You may already know some Norse legendary names and tropes from contemporary pop culture (MCU, gaming, Yukimura’s Vinland Saga, Riordan’s Magnus Chase books). Reading the original versions opens a direct window onto a period of radical historical change, tracing the shift from the small-scale pagan societies of the Viking Age, to the Christian, literate, centralized kingdoms of medieval Scandinavia.

We’ll begin with myths about the Norse god Thor, then move on to narratives set across a thousand years -- from the deep past of northern Europe, soon after the fall of Rome, to the arrival of Christianity in Iceland around the year 1000 CE. While some of these stories and poems are entirely fictional, others are based on historical voyages to the British Isles, northern Russia and the Mediterranean. All share an understated, sometimes ironic style that feels surprisingly modern.

In the course of the semester, you will learn about the historical, social and media context of Viking Age and medieval Scandinavia, acquire analytical tools for interpreting narratives and works of visual art from distant times and places, and investigate how premodern societies use fictional narrative to remember their pasts and shape their futures.

NOTE: YOU MUST BUY THE COURSE BOOKS AS HARD COPIES (NOT E-BOOKS) so you can use them during in-class assessments, but as long as you buy the editions listed, second-hand copies of them are fine. Additional texts will be provided in a Reader.

Scandinavian 60 fulfils one of the requirements for the major in Scandinavian. The class meets for three hours per week of lecture and discussion. All texts are in English. Written assessment consists of short in-class writing tasks plus a final exam.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills