Examines Scandinavian folklore and folk life, with an emphasis on narratives, supernatural beliefs, and material culture from the 17th to the early 20th centuries, and the anti-colonial and nation-building uses of these traditions.

Considers the principal heroic monuments of northern Europe, including Beowulf, The Lay of Hildebrand, The Lay of the Nibelungs, The Saga of the Volsungs, and the Sigurd poetry of the Poetic edda, and their interpretations. In this course, we will examine a number of important literary and cultural questions in their specific medieval northern European contexts: What is epic poetry, and what features does epic poetry display across time and space in Germanic northern Europe?