AbstractIn the course of the nineteenth century, traditional Christian conceptions of Europe's pre‐Christian paganisms made way for a more favourable image of the 'noble heathen', inspired by Romantic primitivism and the quest for national authenticity. Poets and philologists in Scandinavia turned to medieval manuscripts containing the remnants of the worldview of the Vikings (Ásatrú), and cultivated them as a repository of topoi and motifs for patriotic art. In this essay, I investigate how this positive reassessment of paganism tied into the national historiography of Iceland, and how it influenced the idea of an Icelandic 'Golden Age'. For this purpose, the oeuvre of Jón Jónsson Aðils, Iceland's most prolific historian of the early twentieth century, will be scrutinised. This essay demonstrates how Aðils envisioned Ásatrú's role in the formation of Iceland's national character, and addresses the problem of reconciling a glorified pagan past with the nation's contemporary Christian identity. In so doing, it contributes to our understanding of the complex ways in which processes of national identity formation can affect and transform long‐held ideas on religious and spiritual matters.
In: Halink , S 2017 , ' Asgard Revisited : Old Norse mythology and national culture in Iceland, 1820-1918 ' , Doctor of Philosophy , University of Groningen , [Groningen] .
Deze studie richt zich op de ideologische cultivereing van Oudnoordse mythologie in de context van IJslands groeiende nationale zelfbewustzijn in de periode tussen ca. 1820 en 1918. IJslands middeleeuwse Edda´s zijn, sinds de middeleeuwen, door Denen, Noren, Duitsers en Engelsen toegeëigend en geïnstrumentaliseerd, en werden eerder omschreven als ´Noords´, ´Scandinavisch´ of ´Germaans´ dan als IJslands. Debatten over Oudnoordse cultuur hebben niet alleen IJslandse, maar ook andere Europese vertogen over culturele identiteit mede-gevormd. In de loop van de negentiende eeuw raakten IJslandse intellectuelen geïnspireerd door het romantisch nationalisme, en begonnen zij ´hun´ culturele erfgoed voor zichzelf op te eisen, ondermeer door de mythen in nieuwe, uitgesproken IJslandse interpretatiekaders te plaatsen. De nationalisering van de Edda´s voltrok zich op de lange termijn en nam vele verschillende vormen aan in dichtkunst en de beeldende kunsten, in de vorm van ´invented traditions´ en in spirituele bewegingen, in tijdschriften en kranten, in publieke ruimtes en in academische debatten over geschiedenis, Oudnoordse filologie en folklore. Hoe verhield de IJslandse omgang met de mythen zich tot de ontwikkeling van een moderne culturele en politieke identiteit? Hoe werden uiteenlopende ideeën omtrend IJslands nationale karakter uitgedrukt en overgedragen door middel van mythologische beelden? Bijzondere aandacht wordt geschonken aan de rol van mythen in nationale vertogen, vooral in relatie tot dat andere populaire middeleeuwse genre: de Saga´s van de IJslanders. In deze studie worden deze veelzijdige ontwikkelingen (die zich voltrokken in de veelbewogen eeuw voor IJslands onafhankelijkheid van 1918) geanalyseerd en in kaart gebracht in een breed scala aan verbonden disciplines. De nationale cultivering van de Edda´s reikte veel verder dan het gebied van de literaire esthetica, en was verstrengeld met verschijdene politieke ideologieën. De interactie tussen cultuur, wetenschap en politiek vormt de kern van deze interdisciplinaire studie. ; This study focuses on the ideological cultivation of Old Norse mythology in the context of Iceland's growing national self-awareness in the period between ca. 1820 and 1918. Iceland's medieval Eddas have, in post-medieval times, been appropriated and instrumentalised by Danes, Norwegians, Germans and English, and were labelled 'Nordic', 'Scandinavian' or 'Germanic' rather than Icelandic. Debates on Old Norse-Icelandic culture have shaped not only Icelandic, but also Nordic and other European discourses on cultural identity. In the course of the nineteenth century, Icelandic intellectuals became inspired by Romantic nationalism and began to reclaim 'their' cultural heritage by placing the myths in new interpretational frameworks that were decidedly Icelandic. The long-term process of nationalising the Eddas took many forms and shapes, and manifested itself in the fields of poetry and the visual arts, invented traditions and metaphysics, in journals and newspapers, in public spaces and in academic debates on history, Old Norse philology, and folklore. How did the Icelandic treatment of Old Norse myth relate to the development of the island's cultural and political identity? How were ideas about national character negotiated through the cultivation of mythological images? Special attention is paid to the role of myth in national discourses, especially in relation to that other popular genre of medieval Icelandic literature: the Sagas of Icelanders. Now, for the first time, this multifaceted process – unfolding in the eventful century leading up to the island's independence of 1918 – is analysed and traced through a wide range of interlocking disciplines. The national cultivation of ancient myth reached well beyond the confinements of literary aesthetics, and into the arena of political ideology. It is this interplay of culture, scholarship and politics that lies at the very heart of this interdisciplinary study.
