2026/2027
Не только викинги: введение в древнескандинавские исследования
Статус:
Дисциплина общефакультетского пула
Кто читает:
Школа филологических наук
Где читается:
Факультет гуманитарных наук
Когда читается:
4 модуль
Охват аудитории:
для своего кампуса
Преподаватели:
Глебова Дарья Сергеевна
Язык:
английский
Кредиты:
3
Контактные часы:
36
Course Syllabus
Abstract
This course introduces students to the field of Medieval Norse Studies, with particular attention to the diverse textual genres of Old Norse-Icelandic literature and the major scholarly debates surrounding the interpretation of these texts. Students will read and discuss runic inscriptions, sagas, Eddic and skaldic poetry, while also engaging with a range of influential theoretical approaches and their critical assessment. The course highlights how different methodologies can generate multiple readings of the same texts. It is designed for students interested in Old Norse-Icelandic sources, comparative literary analysis, and broader theoretical approaches to medieval literature. By the end of the course, students will apply their knowledge of primary and secondary sources in a final assignment, in which they will develop and pitch an educational project on medieval Scandinavia for a broader audience. The aim of the project is to explore ways of approaching medieval Scandinavia beyond popular stereotypes and clichés. A strong reading knowledge of academic English is required.
Learning Objectives
- To develop students' understanding of the broader cultural situation in Scandinavia in general, and in Iceland in particular, during the 10-14th centuries, through the study of primary sources from this period;
- To introduce students to the specific problems and themes that arise in working with Old Norse sources.
- To introduce students to the principal genres of Old Norse-Icelandic literature and the distinctive features of their form, content, and reception, both in medieval Scandinavia and in the present day; to train students in the fundamental skills of source-critical, philological, contextual, and comparative analysis of texts of this kind; and to provide students with the requisite knowledge of the transmission history of sources such as sagas, skaldic poetry, runic inscriptions, etc.
- To familiarize students with the principal scholarly literature relevant to addressing various problems within the study of Old Norse and Norse-Icelandic sources and present the current major directions of research in the literature and culture of medieval Scandinavia.
- To develop students' ability to work with the principal electronic resources and databases in Scandinavian studies; to cultivate a critical approach to both primary sources and the scholarly literature on the subject; and to help students integrate the knowledge thus acquired about medieval Scandinavia into the broader context of medieval history and literature.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Upon completion of the course, the student should know: the principal events of the medieval history of Scandinavia; the basic concepts and categories pertaining to the history of Scandinavian culture; the principal types of texts of medieval Scandinavia.
- The student can compare written and material evidence in the field of cultural history, and has a working knowledge of the principal legal norms of medieval Iceland.
- The student is well-versed in the principal forms of skaldic poetry and has an understanding of the intellectual situation in medieval Iceland during the eleventh through fourteenth centuries.
- The student has a working knowledge of the principal forms of power in medieval Scandinavia and of the main problems within this area of study.
- The student has a working knowledge of the principal directions in the reception of Old Norse culture, is able to conduct an original case-study of their own, and is familiar with the core scholarship on the subject.
Course Contents
- Introduction. The main sources
- Runic literacy
- Skaldic poetry. The Old Scandinavian learned tradition: native and continental elements.
- Power in medieval Scandinavia
- Reception of the Old Norse past in medieval and post-medieval culture
Interim Assessment
- 2026/2027 4th module0.6 * Проект + 0.2 * Реферативный материал + 0.2 * Работа на семинаре
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- "Эдда" и сага, Гуревич, А. Я., 1979
- Christianization and the rise of Christian monarchy : Scandinavia, Central Europe and Rus' c. 900-1200, , 2010
- Early modern medievalisms : the interplay between scholarly reflection and artistic production, , 2010
- Ideology and power in the Viking and Middle Ages : Scandinavia, Iceland, Ireland, Orkney and the Faeroes, , 2011
- Medievalisms : making the past in the present, Pugh, T., 2013
- The historical present : medievalism and modernity, Kudrycz, W., 2012
- The Middle Ages in popular imagination : memory, film and medievalism, Sturtevant, P. B., 2018
- The Scandinavians from the Vendel period to the tenth century : an ethnographic perspective, , 2012
- Мир саги. Становление литературы, Стеблин-Каменский, М. И., 1984
- Труды по филологии, Стеблин-Каменский, М. И., 2003
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Defining medievalism(s) II, , 2009
- Defining medievalism(s), , 2009
- Ecomedievalism, , 2017
- The Cambridge companion to Medievalism, , 2016