Journal article
Morris the Skald: Icelandic Translation as Social Liberation
Victorian poetry, Vol.62(1-2), pp.109-140
03/2024
DOI: 10.1353/vp.2024.a948527
Abstract
Between 1869 and 1895, William Morris published with his co-translator Eiríkr Magnússon eight volumes of Icelandic translations. Morris's approach to Icelandic translation embodied a form of radical, empowering identification, which moderated over time into a belief that certain aspects of Icelandic culture could provide models for an alternate, less materialistic future society. Morris expressed his intense engagement with the sagas in a series of poems, in which he responded in starkly personal terms to the Icelandic literary past. In addition, Morris inscribed several of his writings in calligraphic manuscripts, merging his skaldic persona, calligraphic renditions, original poetry, and autobiographical expressions. His grasp of the significance of medieval linguistic forms, coupled with a belief in their ability to generate new meanings, anticipated his later view that aspects of a reimagined Icelandic culture provided a salutary antidote to the "infallible maxims" of Victorian industrial capitalism. Morris's immersion in the Icelandic sagas thus provided a form of creative estrangement on several fronts, as he responded variously to the Old Norse tales as imagined skald, time traveler, creative historicist, translator, linguistic wordsmith, critic, poet, and social theorist.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Morris the Skald: Icelandic Translation as Social Liberation
- Creators
- Florence Boos
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Victorian poetry, Vol.62(1-2), pp.109-140
- DOI
- 10.1353/vp.2024.a948527
- ISSN
- 1530-7190
- eISSN
- 1530-7190
- Number of pages
- 32
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 03/2024
- Academic Unit
- English; International Programs
- Record Identifier
- 9984787175002771
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