University of Iceland

Faculty Member, Icelandic and Comparative Cultural Studies

Professor of Medieval Icelandic Literature

About

I am Ármann Jakobsson, professor in mediaeval Icelandic literature at the University of Iceland.

Area of specialisation: Medieval literature. Cultural studies. Folklore.

Sagas of Icelanders, kings’ sagas, þættir, legendary sagas, eddic poetry, skaldic poetry, late medieval poetry, Sturlunga saga, J.R.R. Tolkien.

The supernatural, the marginal, royal ideology, medieval aesthetics, history of scholarship.

Career: Before I started working at the University (1/1 2008), I was a research council fellow, external lecturer at the University, a teacher at MR sixth form college, a columnist and critic for DV daily newspaper, and I had a research position at Árnastofnun in 2007.

Some scholarly interests:

1. The mediaeval royal biographies and kingship ideology in mediaeval Icelandic narratives.

2. Medieval Icelandic encounters with the supernatural.

3. Marginal people in mediaeval Icelandic prose narrative.

4. The Old Norse-Icelandic legendary sagas.

5. Iceland and the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages.

Teaching: I teach the mediaeval part of the introductory course on the history of Icelandic literature. I have also developed a course on critical methods for mediaeval studies. Among the subjects I teach at the BA- and MA-level are sagas of Icelanders, Sturlunga saga, eddic poetry, skaldic poetry, kings’ sagas, legendary sagas, and Old Norse mythology.

The supervision of Ph.D.-students is an important part of my work. I currently have six doctoral students, with only two new openings each year.

Next term (starting September 2012) I am teaching a course on the kings’ sagas and the legendary sagas and a seminar on Tolkien and medieval Icelandic literature.

Bibliography: My bibliography can be found here: https://uni.hi.is/armannja/ritaskra/

In 2008, I published one novel and one microprose collection. I also edited a collection of articles from the radical webjournal Múrinn. In 2009, I published one textbook in mediaeval Icelandic literature for sixth form colleges, one book aimed at university students about research issues in mediaeval Icelandic literature (used in my course) and a collection of articles on the legendary sagas (along with Annette Lassen and Agneta Ney). In 2011, my edition of Morkinskinna in two volumes appeared after eight years of hard labour.

I have just published the novel Glæsir, http://www.forlagid.is/?p=584608

My next books are, in 2012,  another anthology of articles on the legendary saga (again with Annette and Agneta), a translation of Þorláks saga co-edited with David Clark with my part being the introduction and notes, a new Icelandic translation of Tolkien’s famous Beowulf essay where I again am responsible for the introduction and notes.

I am also currently working on a new monograph on marginal characters in the sagas, and will start work on two new books in 2012.

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