ABOUT BOOK

This book attempts to understand the origins and development of religious belief in ~Iceland and greater Scandinavia through the lenses of five carefully selected Icelandic ~folktales collected in Iceland during the nineteenth century. Each of these five stories ~has a story of its own: a historical and cultural context, a literary legacy, influences from ~beliefs of all kinds (orthodox and heterodox, elite or lay), and modalities (oral or written) ~by which the story was told. These factors leave an imprint— sometimes discernable, ~sometimes not— upon the story, and when that imprint is readable, the legacies and ~influences upon these stories come alive to illuminate a tapestry of cultural memory ~(that is, a society’s perception of itself, its past, and its prospects for the future) and ~cultural development that might otherwise be hidden from the reader’s eyes. So much is ~the aim of this book: to tell the story of five great stories.