SCAND 501 A, University of Washington (pdf)
Who kills Þorgrímr Þorsteinsson, and why? What are the consequences of this act, and what are its sexual-symbolic entanglements?
Instructor:
Dr Timothy Bourns
Email: tbourns@uw.edu
Office: Raitt Hall, 305 X
Office Hours: Thursdays, 3-5pm, or by appointment
Classes:
Smith Hall 107
In-person, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30-2:20pm
Spring Quarter, 2026
Course Description:
This graduate-level course directly builds on SCAND 500 by advancing students’ skills in reading and interpreting Old Norse-Icelandic texts. The course centers on a complete reading of the famous outlaw story Gísla saga Súrssonar, including its skaldic verse, in the original language. We will use this narrative as a foundation for translation practice, close philological analysis, and discussion of medieval Icelandic narrative technique and literary history. Alongside our translation of the text, the course introduces key aspects of the cultural world behind the saga, including law and the Alþingi, feud and outlawry, magic and belief, dreams and fate, kinship, gender, and the material and environmental realities of medieval Scandinavia. By integrating linguistic study with historical, literary, and cultural inquiry, students will gain a deeper understanding of both the Old Icelandic language and the intellectual world that produced one of its most enduring narratives.
Learning Objectives:
- Read and translate extended passages of Old Icelandic prose and verse with accuracy and fluency, drawing on appropriate lexical and grammatical resources
- Analyze the grammar and syntax of Old Icelandic in context through sustained engagement with a single text: Gísla saga Súrssonar
- Interpret skaldic verse within saga narrative, recognizing key features of diction, meter, and figurative language (including kennings) and their literary function
- Conduct close philological analysis of saga prose, attending to issues of style, narrative voice, textual variation, and manuscript transmission
- Situate Gísla saga Súrssonar within its cultural and historical contexts, including law, feud, outlawry, kinship, gender, belief, and the Icelandic landscape
- Engage critically with modern scholarship on Old Norse literature, evaluating different methodological approaches (philological, literary, theoretical)
- Develop and present an original research argument grounded in primary texts and informed by relevant secondary literature
Grading:
Final grades for this course will be calculated as follows:
Participation: 20%
Translation Midterm: 20%
Final Translation Exam: 20%
The remainder of your grade may be personally tailored in consultation with the instructor to help you meet your individual interests and goals. The standard course structure is as follows:
Seminar Paper Proposal: 5%
Seminar Paper Presentation: 10%
Seminar Paper: 25%
Grading Scale:
4.0 – 96-100% 3.2 – 84% 2.4 – 76% 1.6 – 68%
3.9 – 93-95% 3.1 – 83% 2.3 – 75% 1.5 – 67%
3.8 – 90-92% 3.0 – 82% 2.2 – 74% 1.4 – 66%
3.7 – 89% 2.9 – 81% 2.1 – 73% 1.3 – 65%
3.6 – 88% 2.8 – 80% 2.0 – 72% 1.2 – 64%
3.5 – 87% 2.7 – 79% 1.9 – 71% 1.1 – 63%
3.4 – 86% 2.6 – 78% 1.8 – 70% 1.0 – 60-62%
3.3 – 85% 2.5 – 77% 1.7 – 69% 0.0 – 0-59%
Participation:
As this is a graduate seminar, you will be expected to regularly and thoughtfully contribute to class discussion. You are expected to read the relevant chapters from Gísla saga Súrssonar – in the original language – and share sections of your translation with the class. You are also expected to read the assigned scholarship in advance of each class.
Translation Midterm:
The Translation Midterm is worth 20% of your final grade and will be held on Thursday, April 30th. You will be expected to translate a select passage(s) from chapters 1–15 of Gísla saga Súrssonar. A translation gloss of uncommon words will be provided. Please let me know if you will require any accommodations for this evaluation; I am happy to make arrangements as needed.
Final Translation Exam:
The Final Translation Exam is worth 20% of your final grade and will be held on Thursday, June 11th (10:30am-12:20pm). You will be expected to translate a select passage(s) from chapters 16–38 of Gísla saga Súrssonar. A translation gloss of uncommon words will be provided. Please let me know if you will require any accommodations for this evaluation; I am happy to make arrangements as needed.
Seminar Paper, Proposal, and Presentation:
The seminar paper is an independent inquiry into an approved topic of your choice. Essentially: what most interests you about Old Icelandic Language and Literature, and what specific aspect do you want to learn more about?
Once you have answered these questions, you can research this topic and then share your learning, analysis, and arguments, citing the original Íslenzk fornrit editions and the relevant scholarship which has guided your thinking. Your topic must directly engage with the central theme of the course: Old Icelandic Language and Literature. It must indirectly engage with the central reading of the course: Gísla saga Súrssonar.
The seminar paper should be between 2000 and 3000 words (approximately 8-12 pages), excluding references. It is due on Friday, June 5th and is worth 25% of your final grade.
In advance of the seminar paper, you will submit a seminar proposal (by Friday, May 15th at the latest). You will tell me about the topic that you are interested in researching, why you are interested in it, and some of the sources (primary and secondary) with which you are engaging. This provides an opportunity to receive feedback and ensure that you are on track for success. It is worth 5% of your final grade (further specifications about expectations will be provided in advance). One-on-one seminar paper proposal feedback meetings will be held during week 8.
There will also be seminar paper presentations held during the last class in advance of final submission. These conference-style presentations should be detailed, engaging, and professional. They should last for about 15-20 minutes, leaving 10-15 minutes for questions and discussion. They will be worth 10% of your final grade.
Both the seminar paper and proposal should be uploaded to Canvas by the deadline. Unless a doctor’s note is provided or you are granted an extension in advance, there will be a 2% grade reduction for every day that the seminar paper or proposal is late.
Note that if you prefer a different format for the final seminar paper to meet your learning objectives for this course, then that is something we can meet to discuss.
Course Readings:
The central reading for this course is the Íslenzk fornrit edition of Gísla saga Súrssonar (pp. 1–118 in Vestfirðinga sǫgur, eds. Björn K. Þórólfsson and Guðni Jónsson, Reykjavik: Hið Íslenzka fornritafélag, 1943). A handout of this reading will be provided and a PDF will be uploaded to the Canvas page.
There will also be a scholarship reading for group discussion each class, uploaded to Canvas in advance, and the handouts and readings from the SCAND 500 course remain relevant for background knowledge and information, especially Michael Barnes’s three-volume A New Introduction to Old Norse and E. V. Gordon’s An Introduction to Old Norse.
Course Schedule:
Week 1:
Tuesday, March 31: Syllabus, Initiation, and Orientation
Thursday, April 2: Chapter 1 of Gísla saga
- Scholarship Discussion: Margaret Clunies Ross’s ‘Medieval Iceland’, ‘What is an Old Norse-Icelandic saga?’, and ‘The Genesis of the Icelandic Saga’ from The Cambridge Introduction to the Old Norse-Icelandic Saga
Week 2:
Tuesday, April 7: Chapters 2-3 of Gísla saga
- Scholarship Discussion: Folke Ström’s ‘Níð, Ergi and Old Norse Moral Attitudes’ – The Dorothea Coke Memorial Lecture in Northern Studies delivered at University College London, 10 May 1973
Thursday, April 9: Chapters 4-5 of Gísla saga
- Scholarship Discussion: Emily Lethbridge’s ‘Gísla saga Súrssonar: Textual Variation, Editorial Constructions, and Critical Interpretations’ in Creating the Medieval Saga: Versions, Variability and Editorial Interpretations of Old Norse Saga Literature
Week 3:
Tuesday, April 14: Chapters 6-7-8 of Gísla saga
- Scholarship Discussion: Pragya Vohra’s ‘Creating Kin, Extending Authority: Blood-Brotherhood and Power in Medieval Iceland’ in The Palgrave Handbook of Masculinity and Political Culture in Europe
Thursday, April 16: Chapters 9-10-11 of Gísla saga
- Scholarship Discussion: Eric Shane Bryan’s ‘Speech Situations and the Pragmatics of Gender’ in Discourse in Old Norse Literature
Week 4:
Tuesday, April 21: Chapters 12-13 of Gísla saga
- Scholarship Discussion: Theodore Andersson’s ‘Some Ambiguities in Gísla saga: A Balance Sheet’ in Bibliography of Old Norse-Icelandic Studies
Thursday, April 23: NO CLASS (SASS Conference)
Week 5:
Tuesday, April 28: Chapters 14-15 of Gísla saga
- Scholarship Discussion: Edel Porter’s ‘Lost in Transmission: Reconstituting Forgotten Verses in Gísla saga Súrssonar’ in Viking and Medieval Scandinavia
Thursday, April 30: Translation Midterm
- Discussion of Seminar Papers
Week 6:
Tuesday, May 5: Chapters 16-17 of Gísla saga
- Scholarship Discussion: David Clark’s ‘Revisiting Gísla saga: Sexual Themes and the Heroic Past’ in The Journal of English and Germanic Philology
Thursday, May 7: Chapters 18-19 of Gísla saga
- Scholarship Discussion: Jeffrey Turco’s ‘Gender, Violence, and the “Enigma” of Gísla saga’ in The Journal of English and Germanic Philology
Week 7:
Tuesday, May 12: Chapters 20-21 of Gísla saga
- Scholarship Discussion: Eleanor Barraclough’s ‘Inside Outlawry in Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar and Gísla saga Súrssonar: Landscape in the Outlaw Sagas’ in Scandinavian Studies
Thursday, May 14: Chapters 22-23 of Gísla saga
- Scholarship Discussion: P.S. Langeslag’s ‘The Dream Women of Gísla saga’ in Scandinavian Studies
Friday, May 15: Seminar Paper Proposal Due
Week 8:
Tuesday, May 19: Chapter 24-25 of Gísla saga
- Scholarship Discussion: Christopher Crocker’s ‘All I Do the Whole Night Through: On the Dreams of Gísli Súrsson’ in Scandinavian Studies
Thursday, May 21: Chapters 26-27 of Gísla saga
- Scholarship Discussion: Heather O’Donoghue’s ‘Speech, Silence, and Subjectivity in Gísla saga’ in Skaldic Verse and the Poetics of Saga Narrative
Week 9:
Tuesday, May 26: Chapters 28-29-30 of Gísla saga (NB scheduling conflict)
- Scholarship Discussion: Sian Grønlie’s ‘The Outlaw, the Exile and the Desert Saint’ in The Saint and the Saga Hero: Hagiography and Early Icelandic Literature
Thursday, May 28: Chapters 31-32-33 of Gísla saga
- Scholarship Discussion: Carol Clover’s ‘Regardless of Sex: Men, Women, and Power in Early Northern Europe’ in Speculum
Week 10:
Tuesday, June 2: Chapters 34-35-36 of Gísla saga
- Scholarship Discussion: Rebecca Merkelbach’s ‘“He has long forfeited all kinship ties”: Monstrosity, Familial Disruption, and the Cultural Relevance of the Outlaw Sagas’ in Gripla
Thursday, June 4: Chapters 37-38 of Gísla saga
- Seminar Paper Presentations
Friday, June 5: Seminar Paper Due
Finals Week:
Thursday, June 11, 10:30am-12:20pm: Final Translation Exam
-o-
Policies, Procedures, and Acknowledgements:
Academic Integrity: Cheating and plagiarism include, but are not limited to:
- Copying the work of others or allowing others to do your work
- Directly quoting the words of others without using quotation marks, indented format, and in-text citations to identify them
- Using sources (published or unpublished) without identifying them
- Paraphrasing materials or borrowing the ideas of others without identifying the sources.
Plagiarizing, or copying and/or using the words or ideas of others without acknowledgement can undermine your learning and devalue the degree that you are seeking. It can result in failure of the assignment or course. Acknowledge and/or cite every single source that you consider when producing assignments. Over-citing is better than under-citing! If you need help understanding and avoiding plagiarism, come talk to me. Consequences for plagiarizing will be determined on a case-by-case basis. Please refer to the Community Standards & Student Conduct – Academic Misconduct webpage for more information about plagiarism and other forms of misconduct.
Use of AI:
All work submitted for this course must be your own. Any use of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, when working on assignments is forbidden. Use of generative AI will be considered academic misconduct and subject to investigation. If you have any questions about what constitutes academic integrity in this course or at the University of Washington, please feel free to contact me to discuss your concerns.
Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/).
Your experience in this class is important to me. It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please activate your accommodations via myDRS so we can discuss how they will be implemented in this course.
If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), contact DRS directly to set up an Access Plan. DRS facilitates the interactive process that establishes reasonable accommodations. Contact DRS at disability.uw.edu.
Land Acknowledgement:
The University of Washington acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip, and Muckleshoot nations, including the Duwamish, on whose traditional lands the University of Washington-Seattle stands in violation of the Treat of Point Elliott.