Grønlie, Siân. 'No Longer Male and Female'

• Author: Grønlie, Siân
• Title: 'No Longer Male and Female': Redeeming Women in the Icelandic Conversion Narratives
• Published in: Medium Aevum 75.2
• Year: 2006
• Pages: 293-318
• E-text: ProQuest
• Reference: Grønlie, Siân. "'No Longer Male and Female': Redeeming Women in the Icelandic Conversion Narratives." Medium Aevum 75.2 (2006): 293-318.

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• Key words:

Annotation

The confrontation between Steinunn and Þangbrandr in Njála furnishes the starting example for this article which is focussing on the representation of women in Icelandic conversion narratives. Siân Grønlie disagrees with scholars who interpret the opposition of pagan women and Christian men as echoing history or as a purely literary construction due to clerical misogyny, and explores other examples taken from íslendingasögur, konungasögur, and translated saints’ lives. She shows that alternative depictions of women in conversion narratives can be found, portraying continuity rather than rupture between the old and new faith, and assimilation rather than adversity. She concludes that when these more positive examples aren’t overlooked, another, more nuanced, image of women’s attitude to Christian conversion appears.

References

Chapter 102: þorði hann eigi að berjast: "Central to Steinunn's argument is her strong support for what she sees as the 'pagan' ideal of aggressive masculinity: her point about Christ not daring to fight is surely a parody of the Passion. ... The implication is clear: conversion can be represented as a struggle between the sexes, in which women consistently oppose and are excluded from the Christian ideals embraced so willingly by men." (p. 294).

Chapter 102: hún boðaði Þangbrandi heiðni: "Whether Christianity is introduced by means of a legal consensus (as in Iceland) or through royal and political power (as in Norway)... these women stand outside the decision-making bodies ... Hence they (Old Icelandic narratives) represent the domestic sphere - the sphere where women held power - as most resistant to the Christian message, and Njáls saga draws on this dynamic when it dramatizes the clash between the old faith and the new as a power struggle between women and men." (p. 299).

Links

• Written by: Barbora Davídková
• Icelandic translation: