Papers by Joseph C Harris
Love and Death in the Männerbund: An Essay with Special Reference to the Bjarkamál and The Battle of Maldon
Heroic Poetry in the Anglo-Saxon Period: Studies in …, 1993
Introduction [to Prosimetrum]
Prosimetrum: Crosscultural Perspectives on Narrative in Prose and Verse. Ed. Joseph Harris and Karl Reichl. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer. 1997. 131-163, 1997
Oral Tradition, 2000
Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been home to two translators of the Kalevala in the twentieth centu... more Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been home to two translators of the Kalevala in the twentieth century, and both furnished materials, however brief, for an understanding of how they might have compared the Finnish epic to the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf. (The present brief Canterbridgean contribution to the generic characterization of Beowulf, taking a hint from the heterogeneous genre make-up of the Kalevala, focuses chiefly on a complex narrative structure and its meaning.) The better known of the two translators was my distinguished predecessor, the English professor and philologist Francis Peabody Magoun (1895-1979). In his 1963 translation of the 1849 Kalevala, Magoun’s allusions, still strongly under the spell of the early successes of the oral-formulaic theory, are chiefly to shared reliance on formulaic diction, though he does also point out certain differences in the two epics’ application of this style (1963a:xvii, n. 1; xviii, n. 3). Magoun’s reference to “the Beowulf songs” (xviii,...
Oral Tradition, 2000
Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been home to two translators of the Kalevala in the twentieth centu... more Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been home to two translators of the Kalevala in the twentieth century, and both furnished materials, however brief, for an understanding of how they might have compared the Finnish epic to the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf. (The present brief Canterbridgean contribution to the generic characterization of Beowulf, taking a hint from the heterogeneous genre make-up of the Kalevala, focuses chiefly on a complex narrative structure and its meaning.) The better known of the two translators was my distinguished predecessor, the English professor and philologist Francis Peabody Magoun (1895-1979). In his 1963 translation of the 1849 Kalevala, Magoun’s allusions, still strongly under the spell of the early successes of the oral-formulaic theory, are chiefly to shared reliance on formulaic diction, though he does also point out certain differences in the two epics’ application of this style (1963a:xvii, n. 1; xviii, n. 3). Magoun’s reference to “the Beowulf songs” (xviii,...
Various "rhythms" (recurrences and variations viewed as system) in the Rök inscription, with emph... more Various "rhythms" (recurrences and variations viewed as system) in the Rök inscription, with emphasis on the formulaic ritual of the enunciation ("sagum") lines 3, 5, 12, 14, 21, 23, 26 and the reconstructed l. 20.
Two late eddic poems, Grógaldr and Fjölsvinnsmál, together called Svip-dagsmál (Sv), are hardly t... more Two late eddic poems, Grógaldr and Fjölsvinnsmál, together called Svip-dagsmál (Sv), are hardly to be understood without reference to the ballad " Ungen Svejdal " (in about thirty separate recordings in Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish). It is argued here that rather than the ballad being an offshoot of the eddic Sv (the usual assumption), both derive from a common source, an oral Norwegian fornal-darsaga (flourishing about 1300 or later). The story as realized in this *Svipdagssaga can be partially reconstructed by triangulation from the surviving Sv and ballads. This forms the basis for a reconsideration of the hero and narrative of Sv, especially through gender and genre analysis, and finally of the myth that informs the main narrative and of the distinction between that " myth " and the " mythology " of the Sv poet's elabo rations on the reconstructed story. Zusammenfassung: Zwei späte eddische Gedichte, Grógaldr und Fjölsvinnsmál, die zusammen Svipdagsmál (Sv) genannt werden, kann man ohne nähere Betrachtung der Volksballade " Ungen Svejdal " kaum verstehen; die Ballade existiert in etwa dreißig Varianten in Norwegisch, Dänisch und Schwedisch. Traditionell wird angenommen, dass man die Ballade von den Sv ableiten müßte; hierbei werden Gründe angegeben, dass beide aus einer gemeinsamen Quelle schöpfen, einer mündlichen fornaldarsaga, die in Norwegen etwa im vierzehnten Jahrhundert tradiert wurde. Die Geschichte, wie sie in dieser *Svipdagssaga realisiert wurde, kann man, wenn auch nur teilweise, durch Vergleiche von den noch existierenden Sv und den Balladen wiederherstel-len. Dies soll die Grundlage einer neuen Überlegung zu " Held und Narration " der Sv sein; die Auswertung bedient sich der Methoden der Gender-und Genre-Studien, um am Ende den Mythos der Hauptgeschichte der Sv zu charakterisieren und zwischen diesem " Mythos " und der " Mythologie " des Sv-Dichters, d.h., seinen weiteren Ausar-beitungen der zu Grunde liegenden gemeinsamen Quelle, zu unterscheiden. Svipdagsmál (Sv) came into existence only in 1860 when Sophus Bugge suggested that title for the two separate poems, Grógaldr (Gg) and Fjölsvinnsmál (Fj), which he had recently recognized as parts of the same literary whole.¹ Before that date and sporadically afterward, Gg and Fj were considered to be unrelated (or more precisely: before Bugge the question of their relationship was never raised), and practically all
Reconstruction and reading of the damaged line 20 of the Rök Stone's inscription.
History and Literature: Essays in Honor of Karl S. Guthke. Ed. William C. Donahue and Scott Denham. Tübingen: Stauffenberg. 2000. 221-230, 2000
Myth in Early Northwest Europe. Ed. Stephen Glosecki. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies 320. Tempe, AZ: ACMRS and Brepols. 2007. 153-173, 2007
© This digital offprint is provided for the convenience © © of the author of the attached article... more © This digital offprint is provided for the convenience © © of the author of the attached article. © Though this work has been written by the recipient of this electronic file, © Though this work has been written by the recipient of this electronic file, © the Copyright is held by ACMRS (The Arizona Center for Medieval and © the Copyright is held by ACMRS (The Arizona Center for Medieval and © Renaissance Studies), as represented by The Arizona Board of Regents for © Renaissance Studies), as represented by The Arizona Board of Regents for © © Arizona State University. © This file may not be reproduced or output for any commercial purpose © This file may not be reproduced or output for any commercial purpose
Gripla 20 (2009): 257-279, 2009
Philology's concern with minutiae -one rune, one line, an individual poem, at most a group of sim... more Philology's concern with minutiae -one rune, one line, an individual poem, at most a group of similar poems, a genre -seems to occupy the opposite end of a spectrum from the grand form of historical generalization known as civilizational analysis. 1 yet in the hands of a master of both ends of the spectrum, such as sigurður nordal, philology's small steps have sometimes led to cultural panoramas that can contribute at the highest level of the study of comparative civilizations, for the bold sweep of Íslenzk menn ing relies on intense case studies such as nordal's seminal investigation of the religion of Egill skalla-grímsson. 2 Without attempting to emulate nordal, my paper will implicitly argue a continuity from the building blocks of the particular (philology) through the controlled generalization of genre (elegy) to a limited window on an aspect of cultural dynamic; along the way we make a brief pause where genre leads in to literary interpretation. at every point, however, the philologist in me will cling as closely as possible to texts and for the most part to a ninth-century swedish runic inscription, the rök stone. My text and free translation stand as an appendix to this article, and i refer throughout to that text. 3 Philology My understanding of the rök inscription as a whole is heavily indebted to lars lönnroth's article of 1977, the first effort in this realm by a modern literary historian and literary critic. 4 the whole inscription consists of an 1 see the historical contributions to this volume, especially the essay of Jóhann Páll Árnason. 2 sigurður nordal 1942/1990. Cf. the reception of Íslenzk menning in the contributions of Jóhann Páll Árnason. 3 the rök text and translation here and much of the discussion in this article depend on: Harris 2006b, 2009, and forthcoming. 4 Harris 2006b, especially 45-55; for his part, lönnroth 1977 owes much to Wessén 1958. Gripla XX (2009): 257-280.
The Vikings. Ed. R. T. Farrell. London & Chichester: Phillimore. 1982. 157-164 plus bibliography, 1982
Old Norse-Icelandic Literature: A Critical Guide. Ed. Carol J. Clover and John Lindow. Islandica 45. Ithaca & London: Cornell University P. 1985. 68-156., 1985
Structure and Meaning in Old Norse Literature: New Approaches to Textual Analysis and Literary Criticism. Ed. J. Lindow et al. Odense: Odense U P.1986. 187-219, 1986
Beowulf: A Verse Translation. Tr. Seamus Heaney. Ed. Daniel Donoghue. NY & London: Norton. 2002. 98-100, 2002
Arkiv för nordisk filologi 104 (1989): 103-122, 1989
Prosimetrum: Crosscultural Perspectives on Narrative in Prose and Verse. Ed. Joseph Harris and Karl Reichl. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer. 1997. 131-163, 1997
Teaching Oral Traditions. Ed. John M. Foley. NY: The Modern Language Association of America. 1998. 382-390, 1998
Companion to Old English Poetry. Ed. Henk Aertsen and Rolf H. Bremmer, Jr. Amsterdam: VU Press. 1994. 45-62, 1994
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Papers by Joseph C Harris