The Sacred and the Profane in Premodern Icelandic Literature, ca. 1500-1800

This edited volume examines literary production and reception during a rich but neglected chapter of Iceland's history. It questions the usefulness of the binary division of premodern texts into religious and secular, advocating for a more holistic approach in which one can glimpse the sacred in the profane and the profane in the sacred. The volume brings together contributions by twelve scholars that cover topics ranging from þulur and rímur poetry to the lives of premodern Icelandic poets and hymnists. The book includes a concise introduction to literary and cultural developments in Iceland after 1500, while also providing fresh insight into the premodern Icelandic literary environment and how it has been perceived and portrayed.

Margrét Eggertsdóttir is a research professor at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies. She has authored and edited numerous scholarly publications on the literature of late premodern Iceland, including Icelandic Baroque (2014).  Katelin Marit Parsons is an adjunct at the University of Iceland and a postdoctoral researcher at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies. Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir is a professor of medieval Icelandic literature at the University of Iceland and has published extensively on Icelandic literature and folklore.