Every three years the Old Norse community descends upon a
city (or two) for the International Saga Conference. This summer brought us to
the universities of Zürich and Basel for a week’s worth of papers and
discussion on a variety of subjects across the field, from 9–15 August.
The title given to this year’s conference was ‘Sagas and Space’, inviting
submissions to thematic strands ‘Constructing Space’, ‘Mediality’, ‘Textuality
and Manuscript Transmission’, ‘Reception of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature’,
‘Continental Europe and Medieval Scandinavia’, ‘Literatures of Eastern
Scandinavia’, ‘Bodies and Senses in the Scandinavian Middle Ages’ and a wide
range of other topics. Between Cambridge scholars present and past,
representatives of the ASNaC department could be found in every one of these
thematic strands.
Monday
saw doctoral student Maria Theresa Ramandi present on the Legend of St Agnes in
Old Icelandic translation as well as a roundtable discussion on eddic poetry
led by Dr Judy Quinn and featuring Dr Brittany Schorn. In Basel on Tuesday both
presented additional papers on eddic material (on the artifice of intimacy in
eddic dialogues and modes of poetry in prosimetric sagas) and doctoral students
Rebecca Merkelbach and Joanne Shortt Butler represented the Íslendingasögur with papers on mediality
and monstrosity, and on characterisation in Eyrbyggja
saga respectively. On Wednesday Dr Elizabeth Ashman Rowe presented her
current research on the Icelandic annals, offering a tantalising glimpse of
forthcoming publications on these neglected texts. After a day off for trekking
in the Alps, exploring the manuscript collection of Saint Gallen abbey,
cruising on Lake Lucerne or just getting better acquainted with Zürich, the
conference wrapped up on Friday. Doctoral student Caitlin Ellis mapped out the
political geographies of eleventh-century kings Knútr Sveinsson (Cnut the
Great) and Óláfr Haraldsson, whilst Dr Paul Gazzoli explained the manuscript
tradition and re-interpretations of the Latin Life of St Anskar, a missionary
saint associated with the conversion of Scandinavia.
ASNaC
alumni from around Europe added to the representation of the department, with
papers and contributions by Drs Rosalind Bonté (Brepols publishers), Eleanor
Heans-Glogowska, Emily Lethbridge (Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, Reykjavík) and
Jeffrey Love (Stockholm University). Doctoral students Katherine Olley,
Jonathan Hui and Victoria Cribb also swelled the ranks of Cambridge delegates,
partaking of discussions, developments and opportunities to meet colleagues old
and new. The week was a fantastic opportunity to catch up with friends and
peers from all around the globe, as well as those from collaborative projects
such as the Languages, Myths and Finds network, Árni Magnússon Institute
Manuscript Master Classes, Skaldic Poetry Project — and even to form brand new
research networks! Rebecca Merkelbach led the formation of an Old Norse Network
of Otherness (ONNO),
comprised largely of early-career scholars from around the world whose work focusses
on the marginal and medial aspects of Old Norse literature. The interests of
the network include “the breaking-down of binaries, the development of spectrums and continuities [and] the de-marginalisation of otherness”.
This is but one example of how the conference successfully fostered enthusiasm,
creativity and new ideas amongst everyone who attended.
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Saga Conference 2015
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At this, the 16th International Saga Conference, we
also received reminders of conferences past and of the important legacy of
these academic gatherings that were begun by Professor Hermann Pálsson at
Edinburgh in 1971. Under the enthusiastic guidance of Judy Quinn, the first
coffee-break in Basel was taken up by delegates participating in a series of sixteen
photographs recording the history of the saga conference since its inception.
From the cheers of support, it was worth forgoing coffee to see how important
this meeting has been to the field, ensuring contact and discussion between
members of the community (both senior and junior) throughout the years.
Appropriately, this year’s photoshoot coincided with the launch of a website archiving
all available saga conference papers and abstracts. It will doubtless prove an invaluable asset to the
ongoing research of many of us.
Finally, Friday afternoon confirmed the location and
date of the next meeting in 2018: Reykjavík, Iceland, 12–18 August. Previous conferences
have focussed on many genres of saga, but never yet on the genre that has
perhaps contributed most to bringing people to the field: the Íslendingasögur. How appropriate that we
should return to Reykjavík for this theme. Roll on 2018 and the 17th
International Saga Conference!
Joanne Shortt Butler
With thanks to Judy Quinn for
additional information.
