Women in Old Norse Literature

"A broad range of secular prose sources are surveyed in this book to illuminate the agency of women in all manner of situations, from the decorous queen to the giantess, 'an independent figure bursting with improprieties'. Fridriksdottir gathers together an unlikely band of female figures from across the centuries of Old Norse literature, bringing into the frame a multitude of characters whose actions and words are full of interest." - Judy Quinn, Cambridge University
'Women in Old Norse Literature surpasses what has to date been written about the image of women in the sagas. Unlike previous studies that have focused almost exclusively on a handful of the classical Íslendingasögur (Sagas of Icelanders) and the figure of the female inciter, this book considers the role played by women in the entire corpus of extant secular, vernacular prose from around 1200 until the mid-sixteenth century. Analysis of the great variety of literary genres in Iceland in the Middle Ages, including the fornaldarsögur (mythical-heroic sagas) and riddarasögur (chivalric sagas), reveals women's search for subjectivity, autonomy, self-determination, access to economic resources, freedom of movement, love and respect in marriage, and even power in the public sphere. The book confirms that the sagas contain nuanced and multidimensional female characters distinguished by social position, ethnicity, economic means, and sexual behavior. The superb study attests the multiplicity and heterogeneity of female images and perspectives on women that were available to medieval Icelandic audiences.' - Marianne E. Kalinke, Professor Emerita of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA