A01=Terry Gunnell
archaeological evidence
Author_Terry Gunnell
Category=ATD
Category=NHDJ
costumes
dramatic activity
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
historical accounts
masks
rituals
sagas
Scandinavia
Product details
- ISBN 9780859914581
- Weight: 1010g
- Dimensions: 172 x 244mm
- Publication Date: 11 May 1995
- Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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A fresh look at early dramatic activity in Scandinavia, using archaeological, historical and literary evidence.
This book takes a new approach to the question of whether some form of drama existed in early Scandinavia. Dr Gunnell examines the dialogic poems of the Poetic Edda, preserved in manuscripts from the late thirteenth century, fromthe viewpoints of both performer and audience. He argues that in order to be fully understood by the audience, the poems must have been presented in some dramatic fashion, and not merely chanted. He substantiates his claims by exploring characteristics found only in the manuscripts of these dialogic poems and in contemporary manuscripts of dramatic works from England and Northern France, suggesting that even in the thirteenth century, the dialogic poems must have been regarded as dramatic works. The examination is accompanied by the most complete review to date of the evidence for some kind of ritual drama having existed in pagan Scandinavia, looking at archaeological evidence forthe use of masks and costumes, information contained in the sagas, and contemporary historical accounts.
TERRY GUNNELL is Professor of Folkloristics at the University of Iceland.
