Old Norse Myths, Literature and Society (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Old Norse Myths, Literature and Society Katrina Burge Clunies Ross, Margaret, ed., Old Norse Myths, Literature and Society (The Viking Collection: Studies in Northern Civilization, 14), Viborg, University Press of Southern Denmark, 2003; cloth; pp. 312; RRP DKK260; ISBN 8778387949. Behind the rather generic title of Old Norse Myths, Literature and Society, there lies an extraordinary range of papers which broadly interpret the category of myth from interdisciplinary perspectives. Based mainly on selected revised offerings from the International Saga Conference in Sydney 2000, these 13 papers explore diverse approaches to myth and mythography. In her comprehensive introduction to the volume, Margaret Clunies Ross describes the collection as 'attempt[ing] to show what kinds of evidence exist for Norse myth and attendant beliefs and what types of analytical methods can legitimately be applied to our sources' (p. 8). A reader expecting a conventional survey of the Eddaic mythological texts will be agreeably surprised to find much more, with reference to such diverse material [End Page 204] as boat burials, Roman gods in Old Norse hagiography, and Russian annals. The emphasis throughout the collection is on praxis, the elusive rituals and everyday realities that might have accompanied the surviving mythology of pre-Christian Scandinavia. The variety of topics addressed does not readily lend itself to categorization but they are organized into four sections which helps draw out some of the parallels and tensions between the works. These sections are 'Archaeological and historical perspectives' (three papers), 'Magic, death and the other in medieval Scandinavia' (four) 'Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Mythography' (four) and 'Myth and Ritual in Old Norse-Icelandic Traditions (two). As with the volume as a whole, some extremely stimulating material lurks behind quite non-committal titles. 'Myth and Reality: The Contribution of Archaeology' by John Hines (pp. 19-39) is an unexpected but fascinating analysis of the occupation 'smith.' Hines approaches the Eddaic texts as social histories which hint at tensions over the increasing influence of craftsman, and compares them with the confident self-declaration of a runestone patron as 'smith.' Of course any engagement with Old Norse mythological texts must acknowledge the vexed questions of dating and origins, as Hines does, but fortunately none of these papers let that rather stagnant debate stultify their discussion. The papers do not confine themselves to the conventional ethnicity of the Scandinavian world. The Saami people feature in several papers as an important influence on the ritual practice and mythic content of the Norse-speaking Scandinavians. Saamis are generally referred to as 'finns' in the Old Norse texts, and are typically associated with magic, sorcery and shamanism (though I note John Lindow's comment that some scholars have reservations over the use of that term, p. 99). 'Cultures in Contact' is Lindow's discussion of the changing perceptions of the geographical spread and cultural influence of the Saami. He follows Inger Zachrisson in positing a 'two-culture-area' of mingled Saami/Norse ethnicity. This inevitably presented the newly and loosely Christian Scandinavians with a persistently non-Christian Other, which, Lindow argues, left clear and specific traces in Old Norse myth, and quite possibly also in ritual. This theme is taken up in two other papers in the section 'Magic, Death and the Other,' by John McKinnell and Stephen Mitchell. Elena Melnikova explores a different and reverse ethnic influence, that of the Norse on Russia. The ideological shift signaled by glasnost has revivified this area of Norse studies which for generations was hampered by doctrinal emphasis on the Slavic origins of the Russian empire. Melnikova contrasts the readily discernible [End Page 205] traces of Norse influence on material culture, evident from such artefacts as Thor's hammer amulets in burials, with its deeply obscured presence in even the earliest Russian written texts. The section 'Old Norse literature as Mythography' is similarly wide-ranging. One example of the material here is Simonetta Battista's exploration the differences in the Old Norse treatments of Roman gods, and the shifting associations between specific Roman and Norse deities. The final and shortest section, 'Myth and ritual in Old Norse-Icelandic Traditions' makes explicit the search for practice that has been implicit in much of the preceding...