Sagas and Space - Thinking Space in Viking Age and Medieval Scandinavia

Week 1  

Introduction and course overview: space as a key element of narration and representation

Week 2                                        

Constructing mythological space: Eddic cosmography

Sources: Prose-Edda, Poetic Edda

Week 3                      

Discovering new spaces: geographical and social aspects; memory and space

Sources: Sagas (Grænlendinga saga, Eiríks saga rauða)

Week 4                              

Cosmography: descriptions of the world in texts

Sources: Leiðarvísir (Itinerary of Nikulas)

Week 5                          

Mapping the World: Cartography

Sources: Carta Marina

Week 6 

Spatiality in visual media

Sources: picture-stones, runic inscriptions, paintings, woodcarvings, manuscripts

Week 7 

Archaeology:

Sources:

Week 8 Language and space: spatial thinking in language; place names

Sources:

Conclusion and outlook

• Sandra Schneeberger - Deutsches Seminar, Abteilung für Nordische Philologie
• Jürg Glauser - Deutsches Seminar, Abteilung für Nordische Philologie, University of Zurich