Speaker and Authority in Old Norse Wisdom Poetry / / Brittany Erin Schorn.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DG Plus DeG Package 2017 Part 1
• VerfasserIn: Schorn, Brittany Erin,
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin ;, Boston : : De Gruyter, , [2017]; ©2017
• Year of Publication: 2017
• Language: English
• Series: Trends in Medieval Philology , 34
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (X, 198 p.)

While there is a long tradition of research into eddic poetry, including the poems classed as wisdom literature, much of this has approached the subject either as a primarily philological commentary or has addressed literary and thematic topics of individual or small groups of poems. This book offers a wide-ranging enquiry into the defining features of Old Norse wisdom, including the representation of wisdom in texts which cross traditional generic boundaries. It builds on recent advances in understanding of pre-Christian religion in Scandinavia, and calls on comparative and supporting work from several different disciplinary backgrounds (including literary theory, other medieval literatures and anthropology). Speaker and Authority interrogates important questions about the concept of knowledge, as well as its role in medieval Scandinavian society and its broader European cultural context.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Foreword -- Contents -- List of Tables -- 1. Introduction: a Word to the Wise -- 2. Gáttir allar, áðr gangi fram, um scoðask scyli: Approaching Wisdom in Eddic Poetry -- 3. Mankind and the Supernatural World in Eddic Wisdom Verse -- 4. Speaker and Situation in the Mythological Frames of Wisdom Poetry -- 5. Traditional Forms and Christian Authority -- 6. The Authority of Wisdom -- 7. Abbreviations -- 8. Bibliography -- 9. Index