Gripla - 20.12.2017, Side 111

Gripla - 20.12.2017, Side 111
111 acters the term encompasses,37 and John Lindow explores how the term is applied to all sorts of anti-social, potentially paranormal characters across Scandinavian cultural history.38 there is a significant overlap between the characters I consider socially monstrous and those who are referred to as trolls, while others are compared to or otherwise linked to them. Indeed, the term is used more frequently of revenants and magic-users than of the mountain-dwelling ogres taken to be denoted by the term.39 Interestingly, troll is not used to describe what a creature is, because trolls can be all sorts of things, but what it does (being anti-social) and what effect these actions have (disruption): “a troll may be categorised by trollish behaviour”,40 but what exactly constitutes such behaviour needs to be explored. Like many scholars who have studied monstrosity, Lindow concludes by stating that “we cannot truly know trolls. If we could, they would not be trolls.”41 Even in medieval Iceland, the monster escapes classification, rendering the concept of trolls a vague one since it does not only refer to non-human ‘others’, but also at times to ethnic or social ‘others’ like blá- menn or magic-users. Using the term troll to refer to the characters under discussion would therefore not be precise enough to facilitate approach- ing, and maybe answering, questions regarding how these characters are portrayed in the texts, and what cultural significance they might have car- ried. I therefore use the term ‘monster’ (as well as the ‘monster theory’ that comes with it) as a tool to try to better understand the socially disruptive humans of the Íslendingasögur. to this end, I use an ‘etic’ approach, hop- ing to achieve a new and better understanding of a subgroup of the ‘emic’ concept of troll. 37 Ármann Jakobsson, “the trollish acts of Þorgrímr the Witch: the Meanings of troll and ergi in Medieval Iceland,” Saga-Book 32 (2008): 52: “a troll may be a giant or mountain- dweller, a witch, an abnormally strong or large or ugly person, an evil spirit, a ghost, a blámaðr, a magical boar, a heathen demi-god, a demon, a brunnmigi or a berserk.” outlaws fall under the category of “abnormally strong or large” persons. 38 John Lindow, Trolls: An Unnatural History (London: reaktion Books, 2014), 12. 39 Ármann Jakobsson, “the taxonomy of the non-existent: Some Medieval Icelandic Con- cepts of the Paranormal,” Fabula 54 (2013): 201. 40 Ármann Jakobsson, “the trollish acts of Þorgrímr the Witch,” 52. 41 Lindow, Trolls, 143. “HE HaS LonG forfEItED aLL KInSHIP tIES”
Side 1
Side 2
Side 3
Side 4
Side 5
Side 6
Side 7
Side 8
Side 9
Side 10
Side 11
Side 12
Side 13
Side 14
Side 15
Side 16
Side 17
Side 18
Side 19
Side 20
Side 21
Side 22
Side 23
Side 24
Side 25
Side 26
Side 27
Side 28
Side 29
Side 30
Side 31
Side 32
Side 33
Side 34
Side 35
Side 36
Side 37
Side 38
Side 39
Side 40
Side 41
Side 42
Side 43
Side 44
Side 45
Side 46
Side 47
Side 48
Side 49
Side 50
Side 51
Side 52
Side 53
Side 54
Side 55
Side 56
Side 57
Side 58
Side 59
Side 60
Side 61
Side 62
Side 63
Side 64
Side 65
Side 66
Side 67
Side 68
Side 69
Side 70
Side 71
Side 72
Side 73
Side 74
Side 75
Side 76
Side 77
Side 78
Side 79
Side 80
Side 81
Side 82
Side 83
Side 84
Side 85
Side 86
Side 87
Side 88
Side 89
Side 90
Side 91
Side 92
Side 93
Side 94
Side 95
Side 96
Side 97
Side 98
Side 99
Side 100
Side 101
Side 102
Side 103
Side 104
Side 105
Side 106
Side 107
Side 108
Side 109
Side 110
Side 111
Side 112
Side 113
Side 114
Side 115
Side 116
Side 117
Side 118
Side 119
Side 120
Side 121
Side 122
Side 123
Side 124
Side 125
Side 126
Side 127
Side 128
Side 129
Side 130
Side 131
Side 132
Side 133
Side 134
Side 135
Side 136
Side 137
Side 138
Side 139
Side 140
Side 141
Side 142
Side 143
Side 144
Side 145
Side 146
Side 147
Side 148
Side 149
Side 150
Side 151
Side 152
Side 153
Side 154
Side 155
Side 156
Side 157
Side 158
Side 159
Side 160
Side 161
Side 162
Side 163
Side 164
Side 165
Side 166
Side 167
Side 168
Side 169
Side 170
Side 171
Side 172
Side 173
Side 174
Side 175
Side 176
Side 177
Side 178
Side 179
Side 180
Side 181
Side 182
Side 183
Side 184
Side 185
Side 186
Side 187
Side 188
Side 189
Side 190
Side 191
Side 192
Side 193
Side 194
Side 195
Side 196
Side 197
Side 198
Side 199
Side 200
Side 201
Side 202
Side 203
Side 204
Side 205
Side 206
Side 207
Side 208
Side 209
Side 210
Side 211
Side 212
Side 213
Side 214
Side 215
Side 216
Side 217
Side 218
Side 219
Side 220
Side 221
Side 222
Side 223
Side 224
Side 225
Side 226
Side 227
Side 228
Side 229
Side 230
Side 231
Side 232
Side 233
Side 234
Side 235
Side 236
Side 237
Side 238
Side 239
Side 240
Side 241
Side 242
Side 243
Side 244
Side 245
Side 246
Side 247
Side 248
Side 249
Side 250
Side 251
Side 252
Side 253
Side 254
Side 255
Side 256
Side 257
Side 258
Side 259
Side 260
Side 261
Side 262
Side 263
Side 264
Side 265
Side 266

x

Gripla

Direkte link

Hvis du vil linke til denne avis/magasin, skal du bruge disse links:

Link til denne avis/magasin: Gripla
https://timarit.is/publication/579

Link til dette eksemplar:

Link til denne side:

Link til denne artikel:

Venligst ikke link direkte til billeder eller PDfs på Timarit.is, da sådanne webadresser kan ændres uden advarsel. Brug venligst de angivne webadresser for at linke til sitet.