Phelpstead, Carl. Size Matters

• Author: Phelpstead, Carl
• Title: Size Matters: Penile Problems in Sagas of Icelanders
• Published in: Exemplaria 19/3
• Year: 2007
• Pages: 420-37
• E-text:
• Reference: Phelpstead, Carl. "Size Matters: Penile Problems in Sagas of Icelanders." Exemplaria 19/3 (2007): 420-37.

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Annotation

In his article "Size Matters", Carl Phelpstead examines mentions of sexual problems relating to the penis as they appear in various saga sources. Phelpstead approaches the topic from a psychoanalytic perspective, citing the work of Freud and Lacan as he analyzes mentions of impotence and penis size in the sagas. The penis, Phelpstead argues, was of great symbolic importance in Icelandic culture, but no necessarily in the same way in which a modern audience might expect. “Rather than simply distinguish men from women, the penis appears to mark position in a hierarchical social binary that distinguishes able-bodied, virile men from all other people.” (433) In the course of his article, Phelpstead utilizes examples from both Egils saga and Njáls saga. In the former case he offers an interpretation of the woes of an aging Egill who seemingly uses impotence to describe his lost glory. In the latter, Phelpstead cites the cause of Hrútr's divorce from Unnr because the large size of his phallus precludes procreation. In both cases Phelpstead relates these differing but interconnected problems to the gender ideologies of Medieval Iceland.

Links

• Written by: Colin Scott McKinstry
• Icelandic/English translation: