Extraordinary dogs and their function in Old Norse-Icelandic literature

Thesis

This thesis is a study of the dogs that populate Old Norse-Icelandic literature and the functions they play in specific genres of texts.

Following a review of previous scholarship on dogs and other animals, Chapter 1 introduces the multiplicity of roles that dogs play in human society as guards, hunters, trackers, herders, fighters, entertainers, companions, and products. Beginning with the hound Garmr of Vǫluspá, Chapter 2 considers a range of dogs that act as mundane and mythological guards and portents across Old Norse-Icelandic literature, focusing especially on the centrality of sound to their representation. The next two chapters deal with legendary material. Chapter 3 demonstrates how dogs contribute to storyworld immersion and structural unity of texts by bestowing a sense of familiarity on their supernatural companions. Exploring various forms of human/dog hybridity and transformation, Chapter 4 argues that the limitrophy of dogs (a term borrowed from Derrida) makes them ideal narrative and political devices, and tools to debate the definitions of humanity. Moving finally to Christian texts, Chapter 5 examines the ambiguous depiction of dogs in hagiographies employed to craft a holy image of local and foreign saints.

The conclusion brings together and reflects on observations made throughout the thesis, about how the nature of dogs and their close relationship with humans enables them to be used in so many different extraordinary ways. Across each of these chapters, this thesis demonstrates that dogs are deeply embedded within Old Norse-Icelandic literature, both as ordinary animals directly and closely interacting with humans and, at the same time, as extraordinary beings bearing several layers of signification. In doing so, this thesis answers two key interrelated research questions: how are representations of dogs used to construct narratives and how are these narratives used to construct the figure of Canis familiaris, the domestic dog?

Authors: Castelino, A

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-pr7ovmpz7
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: animals; sagas; Old Norse; hybridity; Iceland; dogs; Old Icelandic; human-animal studies; hagiography; medieval; mythology; literature; Scandinavia
• Subjects: Literature, Medieval; Literature and society; Old Norse literature; Human-animal relationships in literature; Literature; Dogs