Introduction

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter I
2. Acknowledgements V
3. Contents VII
4. List of Figures IX
5. Introduction 1
6. 1. Vikings! 19
7. 2. My Vikings and Real Vikings: Drama, Documentary, and Historical Consultancy 28
8. 3. (Re)discovering the Vikings in Poland: From Nineteenth-Century Romantics to Contemporary Warriors 44
9. 4. Women in Viking Reenactment 69
10. 5. Who’s Afraid of an Electric Torch? Reimagining Gender and the Viking World in Contemporary Picturebooks 89
11. 6. The Terrible Njorl’s Saga: Comedic Reimaginings of the Íslendingasögur from the Victorians to the Present Day 107
12. 7. The One that Got Away in Old Norse Myth, Moby-Dick, and the Work of Hugh MacDiarmid 129
13. 8. Death ere the Afternoon: Jómsvíkinga saga and a Scene in Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls 145
14. 9. “(No More) Reaving, Roving, Raiding, or Raping”: The Ironborn in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO’s Game of Thrones 162
15. 10. A Saga King in a Finnish Beijing Opera 180
16. 11. “Pick up Rune”: The Use of Runes in Digital Games 201
17. 12. From Barbarian to Brand: The Vikings as a Marketing Tool 214
18. 13. Raiding the Vikings: How Does Ireland Consume Its Viking Heritage? 232
19. 14. The Great Viking Fake-Off: The Cultural Legacy of Norse Voyages to North America 250
20. Afterword: Tell These Stories Yourself 267
21. Index 273