Chapter 9 The Reluctant King and the Heavenly Hero: The Failures of Beowulf and the Heliand

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter I
2. Acknowledgments V
3. A Note on Terminology VII
4. A Non-Exhaustive List of Resources Cited, Consulted, and Recommended IX
5. Contents XI
6. Introduction 1
7. Chapter 1 “And if þou redez hym ryȝt”: Violence and the Poetics of Temptation in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 5
8. Chapter 2 “She hath þe keye and þe clycat”: Langland’s Marian Enigmas 23
9. Chapter 3 Food and Foodspaces as Weapons in Medieval Outlaw Narratives 45
10. Chapter 4 The Christ-Bearer Legend in Icelandic Prose and Poetry 69
11. Chapter 5 Making and Breaking Private Spaces in Tristrams saga ok Ísöndar 91
12. Chapter 6 Mimetic Crisis in the Fenrir Myth 111
13. Chapter 7 War Fronts and Scattered Spear Showers: The Meteorology of Battle in Skaldic Poetry 131
14. Chapter 8 Góðra vina fundur: Thoughts on J. R. R. Tolkien’s and E. V. Gordon’s “Viking Club” Songbook at Leeds, and Related Nordic Songbooks 153
15. Chapter 9 The Reluctant King and the Heavenly Hero: The Failures of Beowulf and the Heliand 175
16. Afterword 197
17. Shaun Stories 199
18. Contributor Biographies 205
19. Index 207