Customer Reviews

The Cold Counsel: The Women in Old Norse Literature and Myth (Garland reference library of the humanities)

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"Cold Counsel" is an outstanding collection of essays on Norse women. I found many of the articles thought-provoking and informative. It's still very difficult to find good information on Viking Age women - some of the best research is only published as journal articles, and it's only in the past 4-5 years that books on the topic of Norse women have begun to appear. This volume is fairly expensive, but very well worth it for anyone studying women in the Viking Age. Articles include:

(1) Introduction: "og eru köld kvenna ráš"; (2) "En hon er blandin mjök": Women and Insults in Old Norse Literature; (3) Hildigunnr's Lament; (4) Women's Voices in Old Norse Literature: The Case of Trójumanna saga; (5) Taming the Shrew: The Rise of Patriarchy and the Subordination of the Feminine in Old Norse Literature; (6) The Re-emergence of Women's Voices in Icelandic Literature, 1500-1800; (7) Vikings Westward to Vinland: The Problem of Women; (8) "Žegi Žú, Žórr!": Gender, Class, and Discourse in Žrymskviša; (9) Fathers, Mothers, and Daughters: "Hver er aš ráša?"; (10) A Good Day's Work: Laxdoela saga, ch. 49; (11) Women's Counsel in the Riddarasögur: The Case of Parcevals saga; (12) The Woman Who Knows: Female Characters of Eyrbyggja saga; (13) Male Bonding, Female Body: The Absenting of Woman in "Bisclaretz ljóš"; (14) Ambiguously Gendered: The Skalds Jórunn, Aušr and Steinunn; (15) Women Outside: Discourse of Community in Hávamál; (16) Saga World and Nineteenth-Century Iceland: The Case of Women Farmers.

As far as Garland compliations go, this is one of the better ones. Collected essays span topics from goddesses and eddic lore to the roles of everyday women in the sagas. A couple exceptional articles, many quite good, an essay wrought with 1970's feminist theory I honestly could not wade through. Overall worth a read for divergent takes on Women in Norse Culture.

This is a terrific study of an often overlooked subject. Truly groundbreaking work in fact. If you are trying to understand women in literature, this is a great study to look at.