Children’s Literature and Old Norse Medievalism

This book explores the ways in which contemporary authors respond to and rework key aspects of Old Norse history and viking culture for young twenty-first-century audiences. Why are contemporary authors and audiences so manifestly attracted to the viking past? In what ways do writers respond to Norse sources? How do the narratives they tell reflect our beliefs about and desires for the past, our constructions of childhood and adolescence, our anxieties around gender, sexuality, and ethnicity? How do these texts engage with a future occluded by apocalyptic ecological threat? David Clark explores these questions through readings of a rich body of diverse material which retells, updates, and transforms Norse culture. The volume contextualizes Norse medievalism and explores how thematic foci on gender, sexuality, disability, and ethnicity relate to contemporary concerns around these topics, and the construction of childhood.

David Clark is the author of three monographs, four edited collections, and a crime novel, and for many years taught and researched medieval literatures, gender and sexuality studies, creative writing, and contemporary medievalism. He currently teaches Musical Theatre and vocal repertoire sessions for London College of Music, and writes and sings around Manchester.