Damnation and Salvation in Old Norse Literature

<p>The hope of salvation and the fear of damnation were fundamental in the Middle Ages. Surprisingly however this topic as reflected in Old Norse literature has received limited critical attention.This book addresses this lacuna in the scholarship from two major perspectives. Firstly it examines how the twin themes of damnation and salvation interact with other more familiar and better explored topoi such as the life-cycle the moment of death and the material world. Secondly it looks at how issues relating to damnation and salvation influence the structure of texts with regard both to individual scenes and poems and sagas as a whole. The author argues that comparable features and patterns reoccur throughout the corpus albeit with individual variations contingent on the relevant historical and literary context. A broad range of the literature is considered including Sagas of Icelanders Kings' sagas Contemporary Sagas Legendary sagas and poems of Christian instruction. Haki Antonsson is Senior Lecturer in Medieval Scandinavian Studies University College London.</p>