This book examines major literary texts by and about the Irish in the Middle Ages, providing an analysis of a spatial poetics developed over 600 years. It argues that the Irish theorised anew the concept of 'place' and developed a 'spatial turn' that reconfigured how communities in the Irish Sea region thought about writing, place and identity. -- .
Focusing on major literary works from the Middle Ages, this book explores how the Irish redefined the concept of 'place' over 600 years. It highlights a 'spatial turn' that transformed community perceptions of writing, identity, and their geographical context in the Irish Sea region. Through in-depth analysis, it reveals the intricate relationship between literature and spatial awareness in shaping cultural identity during this period.
The culmination of over a decade's research on verbal culture in the pre- and post-Conversion medieval North at Bergen's Centre for Medieval Studies, this volume traces the movement of words and texts temporally, geographically, and intellectually across different media and genres. The contributions gathered here begin with a reassessment of how the unique verbal cultures of Scandinavia and Iceland can be understood in a broader European context, and then move on to explore foundational Nordic Latin histories and vernacular sagas. Key case studies are put forward to highlight the importance of institutional and individual writing communities, epistolary and list-making cultures, and the production of manuscripts as well as runic inscriptions. Finally, the oral-written continuum is examined, with a focus on important works such as Islendingabok and Landnamabok, Old-Norse Icelandic translated romances, and the development of prosimetra. Together, these essays form a state-of-the-art volume that offers new and vital insights into the role of literacy in the Norse-speaking world.