In this section, we focus on thematic connections between the Völuspá and political origins in Iceland. But there are those making efforts to draw more tangible connections between the poem and historical, even geological events. In their paper “Are There Echoes of the AD 536 Event in the Viking Ragnarok Myth? A Critical Appraisal,” Mathias Nordvig and Felix Riede create a new method for linking culture and geological time. Using what they term “paleoenvironmental humanities” and a close-reading of the poem, the writers attempt to link specific images from the Völuspá with known natural phenomena. They consider the notion that the Ragnarök myth was based upon a geological event in 536, in Scandinavia, before concluding it was more likely based on post-settlement volcanic eruptions: “it would require much more intimate knowledge of volcanic activity than can be experienced by inhabitants of the Scandinavian peninsula; it would require an Icelandic experience of volcanic eruptions” (317). Using science as well as the humanities to place a text like the Völuspá is a compelling tactic. Such an argument could do much to displace Hermann Pálsson’s assertion that the Völuspá is largely Sami in origin, for example. But another scholar, like Sigurðson, may caution the authors: because the Völuspá is an oral text, it is impossible to know precisely when pieces of it begin and end, and thus it is functionally impossible to date properly. Which perspective seems to you most compelling?
« Previous | Home | Next »
