BRATHAIR JOURNAL: www.brathair.com

SPECIAL EDITION: ICELANDIC SAGAS


The Icelandic sagas encompass a unique and original body of medieval literature originated in oral form and then preserved in manuscripts spanning the 12th to 14th centuries. As one of the main sources for the study of the Viking Age and also the feudal-Christian period, the importance of the sagas nowadays transcends the Scandinavian studies and articulates with a broader field of cultural studies on the medieval and modern West. Thus, we invite researchers to participate in this special edition by submitting proposals on the following themes:

1. The debate on the relationship between History and Literature within the sagas: authenticity, historicity, authorship, narrative, drama and reader/audience reception.

2. The discussion on the origins of the literary materials: the link between orality and literacy in Iceland.

3. The study of the mythology and heathenism and the process of christianization in Medieval Scandinavia.

4. The analysis of the sagas through the material culture: Toponymy, Archaeology and daily life.

5. The anthropological and sociological perspectives of the Icelandic sagas: social and cultural studies.

6. The influence and/or the relationship between the Icelandic sagas and the oral and literary tradition of the Celtic, Slavic, Latin and German peoples.

7. Topoi and the saga themes: revenge, conflict, war, identity, family, religion, honor, memory, status, tradition, habits and colonization, among others.

8. The translation of Icelandic sagas (complete works or fragments).
Proposals (Papers, essays, reviews and translations) should be sent to the organizers of this special edition at johnnilanger@yahoo.com.br and alvabrag@uol.com.br by June 30th, 2009.Submissions may be written in Portuguese, Spanish, English, German, French and Scandinavian and must follow the guidelines specified in the journal website (www.brathair.com).