Nordic mythology-with its remarkable stories of gods, giants and the catastrophic end of the world-has captured the imaginations of scholars and the public alike for centuries, keeping the Medieval North front and center in the popular imagination.
In this volume, the world's leading scholars of Nordic mythology interrogate the complexities of this realm, bringing expertise from folkloristics, anthropology, religious studies, cultural history, linguistics, archaeology, philology, textual criticism and the history of ideas. These essays explore how religious and secular institutions have made imposed differing narratives of interpretation on this mythological world. They also consider the interaction of Scandinavians with other belief groups, such as the Sámi.
Contributors include John Lindow, Jens Peter Schjødt, Joseph Harris, Margaret Clunies Ross, Judy Quinn, Lars Lönnroth, Jonas Wellendorf, Terry Gunnell, Stefan Brink, Anders Andrén, Gísli Sigurðsson, Thomas A. Dubois, and Ulf Palmenfelt.