Preparatory Reading List

It is necessary to get an overview of the Old Norse-Icelandic literary corpus by reading the major works in translation. Sections will be read in the original language as part of the course work in the program. Incoming students are expected to have read at least the following works in translation before starting in the Medieval Icelandic Studies program:

• Egils saga
• Hrafnkels saga
• Laxdæla saga
• Njáls saga
• Snorri's Edda (the Prose Edda)
• Eddic poetry: at least the poems Vǫluspá, Hávamál, and Þrymskviða

These works are accessible in several different translations into English and various other languages. An online catalogue of saga translations is run by the National and University Library of Iceland. A variety of editions and translations have also been published by the Viking Society for Northern Research, some of which are available for free download. The Sagas of Icelanders: A Selection with a preface by Jane Smiley and an introduction by Robert Kellogg (Penguin Books, New York, 2001) contains a selection of Icelandic sagas in English translation, including Egils saga, Vatnsdœla saga, Laxdœla saga, Hrafnkels saga, Gísla saga, Gunnlaugs saga, and the Vinland sagas, with illustrations, tables, and maps. There is an English translation of Njáls saga by Robert Cook (Penguin Books, London, 2002), of The Poetic Edda by Carolyne Larrington (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996) and Snorri Sturluson's Edda by Anthony Faulkes (Everyman, London, 1987). When reading the medieval Icelandic sagas, the Icelandic Saga Map is a useful resource.

A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture, edited by Rory McTurk (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2007) contains 29 articles by leading scholars, covering a variety of topics that are central in the field of Old Norse-Icelandic studies. Before starting in the Medieval Icelandic Studies program, incoming students are expected to have read at least the following fifteen articles from this volume:

• Ch. 5: “Eddic Poetry” by Terry Gunnell
• Ch. 6: “Family Sagas” by Vésteinn Ólason
• Ch. 8: “Historical Background: Iceland 870–1400” by Helgi Þorláksson
• Ch. 10: “Language” by Michael Barnes 
• Ch. 11: “Late Prose Fiction” by Matthew Driscoll
• Ch. 14: “Manuscripts and Palaeography” by Guðvarður Már Gunnlaugsson  
• Ch. 16: “Orality and Literacy in the Sagas of Icelanders” by Gísli Sigurðsson
• Ch. 17: “Pagan Myth and Religion” by Peter Orton
• Ch. 19: “Prose of Christian Instruction” by Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir
• Ch. 21: “Romance (Translated riddarasögur)” by Jürg Glauser
• Ch. 22: “Royal Biography” by Ármann Jakobsson
• Ch. 24: “Sagas of Contemporary History (Sturlunga saga): Texts and Research” by Úlfar Bragason
• Ch. 25: “Sagas of Icelandic Prehistory (fornaldarsögur)” by Torfi H. Tulinius
• Ch. 27: “Skaldic Poetry” by Diana Whaley
• Ch. 28: “Social Institutions” by Gunnar Karlsson 

The remaining articles are also important, and incoming students are encouraged to read as many of them as possible.

Before enrolling in the Medieval Icelandic Studies program, all students are required to complete the free online introductory course The Medieval Icelandic Sagas (UOI001X) run by the University of Iceland at edX.org. 

A passing grade of 50% is required. To enable us to keep track of your course progress and results, we kindly ask you to send us the edX username or the e-mail address used at edx.org to oldnorse.is. 

The course must be completed before starting the program (no later than August 15 of your year of enrollment).

Below are suggestions for additional preparatory reading before starting the Medieval Icelandic Studies program. Most of these works will be found on the syllabus of the courses in the program. Many of the books listed are available in affordable paperback editions that will allow students to start building their own scholarly library. Books published in Iceland can be purchased from the University of Iceland Book Store — Bóksala stúdenta.

Old Norse–Icelandic Literature, History, Religion, and Archaeology

Below are books that provide a solid introduction to a wide range of themes relating to the Old Norse world, such as literary history, history, religion, and archaeology. Some  are collections of papers on a variety of subjects while others are are more specialized monographs. Many are available in paperback editions.

• Abram, Christopher. 2011. Myths of the Pagan North: The Gods of the Norsemen. New York: Continuum.
• Ármann Jakobsson. 2013. Nine Saga Studies: The Critical Interpretation of the Icelandic Sagas. Reykjavík: University of Iceland Press.
• Ármann Jakobsson and Sverrir Jakobsson (eds.). 2017. The Routledge Research Companion to the Medieval Icelandic Sagas. London and New York: Routledge.
• Brink, Stefan and Neil Price (eds.). 2008. The Viking World. New York: Routledge.
• Byock, Jesse L. 2001. Viking Age Iceland. London: Penguin Books.
• Clunies Ross, Margaret. 2010. The Cambridge Introduction to the Old Norse-Icelandic Saga. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Driscoll, Matthew, Silvia Hufnagel, Philip Lavender, and Beeke Stegmann (eds.). 2018. The legendary legacy: Transmission and reception of the Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda. Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark.
• Fitzhugh, William F. and Elisabeth Ward (eds.). 2000. Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga. Washington: Smithsonian Books.
• Gísli Sigurðsson. 2004. The Medieval Icelandic Saga and Oral Tradition: A Discourse on Method. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Electronic edition available at Harvard University Press.
• Glauser, Jürg, Pernille Hermann, and Stephen A. Mitchell (eds.). 2019. Handbook of Pre-Modern Nordic Memory Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches. Berlin: De Gruyter.
• Guðrún Nordal. 2001. Tools of Literacy: The Role of Skaldic Verse in Icelandic Textual Culture of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
• Lethbridge, Emily  and Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir (eds.). 2018. New Studies in the Manuscript Tradition of Njáls saga: The historia mutila of Njála. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University.
• Lindow, John. 2001. Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Miller, William Ian. 1990. Bloodtaking and Peacemaking. Feud, Law, and Society in Saga Iceland. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 
• Phelpstead, Carl. 2020. An Introduction to the Sagas of Icelanders. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
• Roesdahl, Else. 1991. The Vikings. Second edition. London: Penguin.
• Quinn, Judy og Emily Lethbridge. 2010. Creating the Medieval Saga: Versions, Variability and Editorial Interpretations of Old Norse saga literature, Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark.
• Torfi Tulinius. 2014. The Enigma of Egill. The Saga, the Viking Poet, and Snorri Sturluson. Ithaca: Cornell University Library.
• Vésteinn Ólason. 1998. Dialogues with the Viking Age. Narration and Representation in the Sagas of the Icelanders. Reykjavík: Heimskringla.
• Wolf, Kirsten and Natalie M. van Deusen. 2016. The Saints in Old Norse and Early Modern Icelandic Poetry. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

The Icelandic Language

Even if knowledge of Icelandic is not an entry requirement in the program, it is a good idea to get a head start on the language before the fall semester. Skills in reading Old Norse-Icelandic primary sources—such as the sagas and the Eddas—in the original language are of enormous importance and consequently, great emphasis is placed on the language in the program.

Accordingly, the focus will be on the earlier varieties of Icelandic (Old Icelandic/Old Norse), but the structural difference between Old Icelandic and Modern Icelandic is sufficiently small to provide access to the modern language as well.

Also, for reading out loud the Modern Icelandic pronunciation will be used (rather than a reconstructed pronunciation), a practice that will facilitate understanding and speaking the modern language.

Learning Modern Icelandic

Icelandic Online is a free online beginner’s course in Modern Icelandic designed and run by the Centre for Research in the Humanities and The Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute for Foreign Languages at the University of Iceland and the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies.

It consists of five free online self-study courses. In addition, it includes two distance learning courses with the aid of an instructor (for a moderate fee).

All incoming students in Medieval Icelandic Studies are strongly encouraged to complete at least Icelandic Online 1 and 2 before enrolling.

There are also several textbooks available for studying Modern Icelandic, including:

• Auður Einarsdóttir, Guðrún Theódórsdóttir, María Garðarsdóttir, and Sigríður Þorvaldsdóttir. 2002. Learning Icelandic. Reykjavík: Mál og menning. [Textbook + exercises with a CD.]
• Helga Hilmisdóttir and Jacek Kozlowski. 2009. Beginner’s Icelandic. With 2 Audio CDs. Hippocrene Books.
• Hildur Jónsdóttir. 2010. Complete Icelandic With Two Audio CDs: A Teach Yourself Guide. McGraw-Hill.
• Neijmann, Daisy. 2001. Colloquial Icelandic: The Complete Course for Beginners. New York: Routledge.
• Stefán Einarsson. 1945. Icelandic. Grammar, Texts, Glossary. Baltimore:The Johns Hopkins University Press. [Reprinted several times.]

Learning Old Icelandic

There are also several textbooks focusing on Old Icelandic; most notably:

• Barnes, Michael, and Anthony Faulkes. 2004–2005. A New Introduction to Old Norse 1–3. Viking Society for Northern Research, University College, London (http://www.vsnr.org/). – This is a very useful three-volume set containing 1. Grammar, 2. Reader, and 3. Glossary. Not very expensive, but can also be downloaded free from the Viking Society website (look for the heading: A NEW INTRODUCTION TO OLD NORSE).
• Byock, Jesse L. 2013–2014. Viking Language 1–2. Jules William Press. See the Viking Language website.
• Gordon, E.V. 1957. An Introduction to Old Norse. Second edition revised by A.R. Taylor. Oxford University Press. – Texts, notes, grammar, and a glossary in a single volume; very useful. Reprinted several times, but still somewhat expensive. It might be a good idea to get a used copy (on Amazon.com or elsewhere).

Dictionaries

• Cleasby, Richard and Gudbrand Vigfusson. 1874. An Icelandic–English Dictionary. Clarendon, Oxford. – Reprinted 1957; quite expensive. A free online edition of an Icelandic- English Dictionary. 
• Geir T. Zoëga. 1910. A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic. Clarendon, Oxford. – Reprinted several times; most recently in paperback in 2004; not very expensive. Absolutely indispensable: All incoming students in Viking and Medieval Norse Studies should get their own copy. 
• Icelandic Online Dictionary and Readings in the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections. — Contains among other things the Concise Icelandic–English Dictionary by Sverrir Hólmarsson, Christopher Sanders, and John Tucker (Reykjavík 1989).

The dictionary by Cleasby and Vigfusson still is the most comprehensive Old Icelandic–English dictionary. It is expensive, but the free online edition is very useful. Zoëga’s dictionary, which is based on Cleasby and Vigfusson’s dictionary, is strongly recommended as it is available in an affordable paperback reprint.

Other sources

Beygingarlýsing íslensks nútímamáls is an online guide to Modern Icelandic inflections and conjugations courtesy of the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies (with an interface in Icelandic). Also, check out the web site of The Viking Society for Northern Research. There you will find a list of their publications, many of which are available for free download.