Maríulestir Seminar Series: Melissa Mayus, “Social Expectation in 'Laxdæla Saga'"

Teiknibók 21v, Iceland, 1450s, Monk reading from prayerbook to Mary and Angel

This event, the first in the new Old Norse seminar/workshop series, 'Maríulestir', is jointly sponsored by the Medieval Institute, the Nanovic Centre for European Studies, ND Research, and the Department of English at the University of Notre Dame.

Dr. Melissa Mayus will lecture on "Social Expectation in 'Laxdæla Saga'." 'Laxdæla saga' is a thirteenth-century Icelandic saga relaying the life and times of the people of Laxárdalur ("Salmon-River Dale") in northwestern Iceland. A masterpiece of world literature, it is best known for characters such as Óláfr "The Peacock" Pái (an adventurer and son of an Irish princess taken captive in Iceland), the famous love triangle between the beautiful Guðrún Osvifrsdóttir and the foster brothers Kjartan Óláfsson and Bolli Þorleiksson, and the journey of Bolli Bollason to Constantinople, where he serves in the Emperor's Varangian Guard.

Dr. Mayus graduated from Notre Dame in 2015 with a Ph.D. in English. She currently holds a postdoctoral position as an instructor and researcher in the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University and is particularly interested in the study of agency and free will in Old English and Old Norse-Icelandic literature.

Dinner will follow the seminar (details to follow) where a limited number of fully-paid-up spaces are available. Please email Richard Cole if you wish to attend the dinner.