Customer Reviews

Old Norse Images of Women (Middle Ages)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a fascinating book about the female archetypes which *may* underly modern women of Nordic heritage more than we've previously realized. Or are they more patriarchal fantasy than reality? This book (and the companion volume "Women in Old Norse Society") seems a culmination of Jochens' career, bringing together vast amounts of knowledge and wisdom, brilliantly and provocatively interpreted. The book looks at images of women in Norse literature, mainly the Icelandic sagas. First she looks at Divine Images. The more ancient ones include fertility goddesses, valkyries, sibyls, norns and land-spirits. The more recent classic Nordic pantheon includes the two main goddesses Frigg and Freyja, and how such topics as sexual behaviour and marriage are treated in this divine pagan realm. Jochens then looks at Human Images of women in Norse literature. This is where she identifies the archetypes: the Warrior Woman, the Prophetess/Sorceress, the Avenger, and the Whetter (or Inciter). One of the very interesting points which Jochens stresses is that there is little historical evidence that these images portrayed the reality of women in real Norse society. Stories and poems of these pagan figures were transmitted by oral tradition for hundred of years, but the written sources were written by Christian monks for a Christian audience. This makes for infintely fascinating layers of conjecture and interpretion. I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in how women are portrayed in history, especially women of Nordic heritage.

Jochens does a supreme job of explaining "everything you ever needed to know about women in early Scandinavia, but were afraid to ask."