Welcome to SCAND 270 / GLITS 252: Sagas of the Vikings!
This Autumn 2026 course will introduce you to one of the greatest treasures of medieval literature: the Old Norse-Icelandic sagas. We will explore a range of texts from medieval Iceland in English translation, with a focus on three of the most famous and celebrated genres. During the first half of the course, we will read some of the mythical-heroic fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda (legendary sagas from Northern lands), followed by the historical and action-packed konungasögur (kings’ sagas); in the second half of the course, we will then turn to the dramatic, psychologically profound Íslendingasögur (sagas of Icelanders). Throughout the quarter, we will place the sagas in their cultural, historical, religious, and literary contexts; acquire skills in Old Norse textual criticism and analysis; and discuss a range of themes including landscape and the environment, mythology and religion, magic and the supernatural, prophecy and destiny, honor and vengeance, gender, identity, social power, and more.