Oedipus borealis: The Aberrant Body in Old Icelandic Myth and SagaLois Bragg
About the Author:
Lois Bragg has written widely on Germanic languages, literatures, and mythologies, including The Lyric Speaker in Old English Poetry, and is the editor of Deaf World: A Historical Reader and Primary Sourcebook. Bragg is Professor of English at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., where she teaches early literature and the history of the English language. She plans to pursue an interest in written English dialects used by Deaf Americans.
Oedipus borealis argues that many well known figures in Icelandic saga literature are based on mythic prototypes, and that both saga heroes and mythic figures are modeled on a pattern in which physical disability or deformity is linked with both sexual deviance and supernatural powers. In stark contrast to modern narrative, where aberrance in the sign of the villain or victim, they mythic mind sees aberrance as the sign of the hero. The saga hero Egil Skallagrímsson is discussed as a paradigm. Four other saga heroes who are skalds are considered in light of the pattern established by Egil. Their anomalies, too, are linked with their poetic talent. After examining several characters widely disparate from the saga skalds, the model holds: only in the narratives having a Christian purpose do we find the link among disability, deformity, sexual aberrance, wisdom, craft, and power broken. With the would-be Icelandic saint, Gudmund the Good, disability is no longer the mark of a great man, but now appears in its modern interpretation: a character-building setback that the hero must overcome. Read a review of this book:
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ISBN 0-8386-4028-1, Price $45.00
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