What are you going to work with at IFIKK?
I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on the research project, ‘Narrative Hierarchies: Minor Characters in Byzantine and Medieval History Writing’,financially supported by the Norwegian Research Council. I will be working in collaboration with the Project Lead Matthew Kinloch, a specialist in Byzantine history, with the aim of offering a culturally contemporary comparative strand to his focus on the late period of the Byzantine empire. My sub-project will be entitled 'The Crisis in Patriarchy in Sturlunga saga: Destabilising Gender in Norse Narrative History’ and will offer an exploration of the Old Norse contemporary sages through a focus on the depiction of gender and the function of minor characters within the Sturlunga saga compilation. This narratological focus will allow me to demonstrate how the complex character system of Sturlunga saga is organised around the self-destruction of an elite masculine social network, providing atypical narrative space and agency to conventionally subordinate characters, particularly low-status women.
Can you tell us a bit about your research interests?
My research to date has primarily focused on Old Norse saga literature. In relation to this corpus, I have applied a range of methodologies and tackled a variety of themes. My doctoral thesis offered a narratological treatment of the compilation principles of the sagas of kings, focusing on the disruptive utility of þættir and the marginal characters they introduce. I have also published on the concept of ageing, insult contests, masculinities, and storyworlds in relationship to the sagas. Outside of saga literature, I have also published on Old English elegiac poetry and the Cerne Abbas Giant, an early-medieval English hill carving.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to spend time with my friends when possible and am currently hugely enjoying exploring Oslo. I try to read for pleasure whenever I can and always like to take in a museum or gallery, with modern sculpture being a particular pleasure. Weather and energy levels permitting, I also love to swim and play water polo and rugby.