Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.06.2019, Page 10

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10 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • June 15 2019
In April and May, University
of Winnipeg Professor
Andrew McGillivray
engaged about 20 students in
the sagas of the Greenlanders
and Eric the Red, and focused
on the Prose Edda written by
Icelandic historian, chieftain,
poet and author Snorri
Sturluson, who in the 13th
century crafted into writing
an oral tradition of Norse
mythology. The southeast
tower on the fourth floor of the
university’s historic Wesley
Hall was a fitting location
for McGillivray’s course in
Literature and Culture in
Medieval Iceland – more than
130 years ago this was the first
institution to offer university
courses in Icelandic in North
America.
For some participants this
was an introduction to Norse
gods, giants and legends, while
for others it enriched prior
knowledge and readings. For
everyone it involved a shared
enjoyment of old Norse tales
that unfolded during six weekly
afternoon lectures offered as
part of the university’s 55+
PACE program.
Andrew’s passion for the
material was made evident in
his relaying of the stories to
the class. The Prose Edda is a
“major mythographical work,”
referring to the detailing of
a mythology, he said in an
interview. “Sturluson was
actually writing these myths
down that would’ve existed in
poetic form, and did exist in
poetic form because we have
the Poetic Edda, a collection of
50 or so poems surviving, or 30
to 50 depending on the count.
But he put these into prose.
“Sturluson was
incredibility prolific, at least if
he wrote all that is attributed
to him, because he wrote the
kings’ sagas, the Prose Edda,
and is suspected to have
written some (other) sagas.”
Currently Assistant
Professor in Rhetoric, Writing,
and Communications at
the U of W, Andrew was
first introduced to Nordic
and Scandinavian culture
in Denmark in 2004 where
he studied as an exchange
student from the University of
Manitoba, The following year
he studied Norse mythology
at the University of Manitoba
and then undertook a master’s
program in Icelandic language
and literature where he studied
in both Iceland and Canada.
This was followed by studies
for his PhD for which he did
work in Icelandic and English.
In 2013, Andrew replaced a
professor on sabbatical leave at
the U of M where he taught Old
Norse mythology involving the
Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda,
and the Saga of the Volsungs.
He completed his PhD in 2015.
Course participant Fred
Paulley says the recent lectures
appealed to him as he has
visited Iceland several times
and wanted to know more about
the culture as well as its history.
He notes that Iceland is a
special country with impressive
beauty “Previously I had taken
a course on Norse mythology
and as this was in the same
venue it appealed to me. Also,
having read Njal’s Saga, I was
interested in learning more.”
He says Andrew’s lectures
brought together many aspects
of the sagas as well as their
characters in a knowledgeable
way, which also has prompted
his own research.
Janet Johnson, who also
attended the course, says she
had some familiarity with the
Poetic Edda and Prose Edda
and enjoyed the lectures in an
atmosphere where everyone
shared a common interest
in Nordic and Scandinavian
culture and heritage. “On my
father’s side my family is from
Denmark and Sweden and I’ve
always been interested in my
heritage. So I’ve got a lot of
books on the Vikings. And I’ve
read the Eddas for quite a few
years. In the 1970s I had a copy.
“There’s so much in there,
so much to learn, that you could
do it over and over again and
there’s always something new,”
she says.
Snorri Sturluson is no less
fascinating than the stories that
he wrote, which, in addition to
the Prose Edda, also included
Heimskringla, a history of the
Norwegian kings. Snorri is
considered to be one of the
most significant authors of
his time, Iceland’s greatest
saga writer, and an important
historical figure in Iceland.
Born in 1179 in Hvammur and
brought up as a boy in Oddi,
he later married an heiress
and acquired land and power.
He settled in Reykholt in 1206
where he became lawspeaker
of the Althing and wrote
most of his works. Invited by
Norwegian King Hákon to
Norway in 1218, he became
involved in Norwegian politics
and convinced Hákon he
could become king of Iceland
with Snorri as his vassal. By
1241 Snorri had fallen out of
favour and the king ordered his
assassination. Today a statue
of Snorri Sturluson stands in
Reykholt, donated to Iceland
by the Norwegian government
in 1947. Snorrastofa Cultural/
Research Centre, which opened
in 1988, attracts visitors to
Reykholt from around the world.
In addition, buildings and an
outdoor hot pool, Snorralaug,
on an estate once belonging to
Snorri are preserved today as a
heritage site.
In a recent interview with Ellen Goodman, Andrew
McGillivray discussed his thoughts on Snorri
Sturluson, Norse mythology and the sagas, and
teaching the Literature and Culture in Medieval
Iceland course. The following Q&A is comprised of
excerpts from that conversation.
Q: Snorri Sturluson is obviously prominent
because he’s at the root of the written material on
Norse mythology. Is there anything you like about
him or find most significant about him?
To begin with, even Snorri’s authorship of the
Prose Edda is debated. Or it is uncertain because
we don’t see anything that attributes him authorship
until we see a manuscript that survives from around
1300, which is about 60 years after his death. That’s
the earliest reference we see and it’s one of three
surviving parchment manuscripts of the Prose Edda.
One of them says at the top of the first leaf that Snorri
wrote this.
Heimskringla, which is a very important
collection of kings’ sagas, is also attributed to Snorri
but I think it’s not until the 16th or 17th century that
we see a manuscript that attributes authorship, so that’s
almost 400 or 500 years after. I find it so interesting
that we attribute authorship to him but we can’t be sure
about it. So he’s this grand figure. He was an important
chieftain for sure. There are contemporary sagas that
were written, some by his nephew Sturla Þórðarson,
that detailed his life.
Q: Why would he be important to Icelanders, or
as far as Scandinavian studies?
I guess there’s two interesting responses. First, he
would’ve been important as this major chieftain, this
powerful figure in Iceland in the 13th century. And
secondly, the works attributed to him are central works
to Icelandic literature and to world literature. He’s
writing over a century before Dante, a century and a
half before Chaucer, so he’s a huge medieval author.
Q: So if you had a chance to meet him with
there be anything in particular you would ask him?
We wouldn’t be able to understand each other,
first off (laughing). I would probably ask him about
his own beliefs, whether or not he believes in the gods
that he writes about. He would’ve been Christian, or
at least he was part of a Christian society. So I would
ask him why are you so interested in it then? Is it
because you care about poetry so much and you think
that we should have these tools? [Sturluson’s work
surveyed the content, style and meter of traditional
Viking poetry.] What are your reasons for recording
these stories? I would also ask him what temperature
he keeps his hot tub at (laughing).
Q: You were saying the sagas are part of their
truth, regarding their history and genealogy – the
people in Medieval Iceland.
The sagas probably give us insight more so into
what was held as true by 13th and 14th century people
about their own past than it offers us insight into what
was true about these 9th, 10th, and 11th century events.
We get a true representation with sagas about what
they thought happened in the 10th and 11th centuries
more than a true representation of what happened.
MEDIEVAL ICELAND COURSE A JOURNEY
INTO NORSE MYTHOLOGY AND THE SAGAS
Ellen Goodman
Winnipeg, MB
Andrew McGillivray in his own words
PHOTO: ELLEN GOODMAN
Andrew McGillivray pointing to an old map showing Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland