Teaching
Theses supervisions at both graduate and undergraduate level span a wide range of topics, including emotion theory, cross-cultural and comparative studies, gender and queer studies, and voice. I have given classes or seminars at UCLA, University of Edinburgh, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, and University of Geneva. Below is a list of courses taught at University of Iceland.
ABF725F Literary Emotionality and the History of Emotion
Graduate seminar (Cross-listed in Icelandic Medieval Studies and Viking and Medieval Norse Studies)
English
This methodological seminar focuses on the recent and rapidly expanding field of the history of emotion while seeking to apply emotion theory to literature. It traces the development of the ‘history of emotion’ across the multiple different fields, including psychology, neurology and history, followeed by an in-depth critical work on emotion theory and its applicability to literature. It tackles questions such as what are literary emotions? Where are they located? How can they be defined and what is the relationship between historical and literary emotionality? The seminar will expand widely across the theoretical background of emotion studies, presenting and discussing its major terminologies and theories. We will then shift to close reading of selected texts for the sake of reinforcing the methodological approach as a skill set to deepen the students’ understanding of the critical parameters and their application.
MIS201F The Circulation of Texts in the Middle Ages
Graduate seminar (Erasmus Plus Summer Course with students and faculty from University of Iceland, University of Southern Denmark, CEU and Charles University in Prague)
English
This course explores the circulation of texts in the Middle Ages, in particular the means, pathways, and patterns of transmission across Europe. The course is configured as a collaborative effort between the participating institutions with lectures planned in the mornings and workshops focused on a specific topic in the afternoons. Each lecture will approach the larger topic of the course from a different perspective, providing students with a sense of the multiple facets of the circulation of texts, including issues such as mediation of texts in manuscripts, the transmission of narrative motifs, and the role of translation and adaptation in textual transmission more broadly. We will explore the networks that existed across Europe and beyond and how these aided in the transmission of narrative material in the Middle Ages. Each workshop will in turn draw on the lecture to provide a focused approach to a particular aspect of textual circulation and its broader societal impacts.
ABF719F King Arthur Throughout History
Graduate course taught in collaboration with Utrecht University (cross-listed in Medieval Icelandic Studies, French and Comparative Literature at UI and with Comparative Literature and Medieval Studies at UU; co-taught with Profs. Frank Brandsma, Torfi Tulinius and Ásdís Rósa Magnúsdóttir and teaching assistant Chloé Vondenhoff)
English
This course offers an overview of Arthurian romance across Europe, with a focus on its French courtly origin and the spread of the Arthurian legend across Northern Europe. The course is offered in collaboration with Utrecht University with lectures provided by faculty from both universities and students will be collaborating with their co-students in Utrecht on both class materials and projects. The class will focus on detailed readings of several Arthurian romances and their background in literary history and popular culture will be studied carefully as well as the manner in which they express social concerns of their times. We will be doing close readings of individual romances and different approaches to their interpretation will be proposed. The influence of Arthurian romances on the development of medieval literature in general will be explored, both in later works composed in French and in translations and adaptations in other European languages of the Middle Ages.
MIS501M Chrétien de Troyes and the Chivalric Romance in Medieval Culture
Graduate course (Cross-listed in Medieval Icelandic Studies, French and Comparative Literature; co-taught with Profs. Torfi Tulinius and Ásdís Rósa Magnúsdóttir)
English
This course offers detailed readings of several of Chrétien de Troyes twelfth-century romances. Their background in literary history and popular culture will be studied carefully as well as the manner in which they express social concerns of their times. Close readings will be given of individual romances and different approaches to their interpretation will be proposed. The influence of Chrétien‘s romances on the development of medieval literature in general will be explored, both in later works composed in French and in translations and adaptations in other European languages of the Middle Ages.
ABF201F Cultural Encounters in the Middle Ages: Chaucer and the North
Graduate course (Cross-listed in Medieval Icelandic Studies and Viking and Norse Medieval Studies)
English
The seminar is held in connection with the renowned Biennial New Chaucer Society Congress, which will be held at the University of Iceland July 16th-20th 2014. The seminar will reflect the thematic concerns of the Congress and will focus on the age of Chaucer, both in Iceland and in England. Students will read works ranging across the North, from Britain to Iceland from the thirteenth through the fifteenth century, which has often been termed the „English century“ due to the extensive commercial and cultural interaction between Iceland and England during the period. The emphasis will be on close reading and analysis of the texts as well as on comparative reading across temporal and cultural boundaries. Students are expected to come prepared to class as we will be working closely with the texts in class.
ABF819F Women Writers
Graduate course
In this seminar we will read the works of women ranging from Sappho and medieval women writers to later authors, such as Charlotte Brontë, Virginia Woolf, Karen Blixen and Zora Neale Hurston. We will read some critical material alongside those works, but the main emphasis will be on working closely with the texts themselves and situating them in a historical and cultural context. What do these writers have in common other than being women? Can one discuss women writers as a specific group, or does such classification in fact confirm and maintain gender-biases that many of these authors fought against? The emphasis will be on close reading and analysis of the texts as well as on comparative reading across temporal and cultural boundaries. Students are expected to come prepared to class as we will be working closely with the texts in class.
ABF712F The Medieval Literature of Europe
Graduate course
This course provides an overview of the main literary works in Europe during the Middle Ages. The course covers material ranging from Germanic heroic poetry to the works of the best known authors of the late Middle Ages, such as Chaucer and
Dante. The main focus of the course will be to establish an overview of the various genres and literary trends of the period, while closer readings of the works will provide insight into their cultural, ideological and narratological context.
ABF813F The Psychology of Literature
Graduate course
In this course we will read recent theories concerning literature, affect and emotion along with selected literary works. We will examine textual representation of emotion as well as the emotional response of readers to texts and consider the process involved in reading and appreciating literary text from the words on a page through cognition, recognition and the reader´s response. Our approach will be based on recent theories within neuro-psychology, cognitive linguistic and affect and emotion studies. We will analyze how emotion is conveyed in literary works, how they are received by readers and discuss the various symbolic, linguistic and cultural methods and conventions for portraying emotion in text.
ABF806F Illicit Desires in Literature and Art
Graduate course
In this seminar we will consider works from various periods that represent or portray “illicit pleasures,” or desires that go against the morals of contemporary society and raise questions about standards of propriety and moral values. We will consider how communities contend with questions of sexuality, corporeality, behaviour and discourse particularly through literary representation and how certain books have defied current moral assumptions and thus raised questions about the nature and role of such values within each society. Works from other artistic fields will also be considered, for instance visual arts and film representation. We will analyze works from different time periods to allow for the consideration of the historical development of moral values, changes in sexual behaviour, as well as changes in the conceptualizations of masculinity and femininity through the ages in an effort to foreground the cultural origin of moral value systems. We will, among others, consider literary works such as Les Liaisons dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos, Lolita by Nabokov, Homo faber by Max Frisch, Cousin Bette by Balzac og Perfume by Patrick Süskind.
TÁK204G Cultural Realms
Undergraduate course (mandatory)
Spring 2011 (Coordinator)/ Spring 2012 (Coordinator)/ Spring 2013 (Coordinator)/ Spring 2014 (Coordinator)
An interdisciplinary and introductory course entailing a dialogue between the academic fields of the department, i.e. comparative literature, film studies, gender studies, art studies, linguistics, cultural studies, sign language and interpreting studies and translation studies. The latest international developments in the field of humanities will be examined and questions asked about the relationship of academic studies and our world view(s). We will analyse the semiotic system of language, inquiring whether it can serve as the basis for our understanding of other semiotic systems. We will ask about the connection and relationship between different languages and linguistic worlds. What is „multiculture“? How are spoken language, written language and visual language interconnected within society? What constitutes cultural literacy? Literature, art, film and other visual material will be examined in both a national and international context, with a view to how these semiotic systems influence the borderlines of gender, race, class, nation, and different world cultures. The study materials include theoretical and critical writings, literary works, visual art and images, and films, as well as some current media coverage.
ABF706F Madness in Literature
Graduate seminar
In this seminar we will consider how “madness” is used as a stylistic device in literature to seek to understand the way in which culture influences the perception of behaviour at different times. We will read works ranging from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century, such as Yvain, King Lear, The Sorrows of Young Werther, and The Woman in White with the intent of analysing the function and significance of “madness” in each work. We will furthermore consider how the representation of madness potentially reflects contemporary perceptions of certain ideals such as masculinity, femininity, emotions, human relations etc.
ABF801F Images of Women in Literature
Graduate Course
This course will consider the images of women in literature and how they are formed and moulded by societal and cultural understandings and perceptions of femininity. We will consider questions such as whether femininity can be considered a simulated behaviour or whether it is an inborn natural inclination and how the understanding of the concept of womanhood itself is transformed in the course of history. We will also discuss how literary works can potentially be used to instruct female readers (and male readers) in “appropriate” female conduct and analyse how texts present and contend with transgressive behaviour of its female protagonists. The works read range both historically and culturally, from the Middle Ages through the twentieth century. We will read among others works by authors such as Chaucer, Flaubert, Ibsen, Charlotte Brontë and Virginia Woolf.
ABF112G Medieval Literature
Undergraduate Course (taught every 3 years)
This course provides an overview of the main literary works in Europe during the Middle Ages. The course covers material ranging from Germanic heroic poetry to the works of the best known authors of the late Middle Ages, such as Chaucer and Dante. The main focus of the course will be to establish an overview of the various genres and literary trends of the period, while closer readings of the works will provide insight into their cultural, ideological and narratological context.
ABF301G Discourse of the Body
Undergraduate Course
This course considers recent theories that approach the body both as a physical and theoretical object. Selected critical works, as well as literary texts by both male and female authors, will be read and theories about discourse, language, symbolism and the body will be used to analyse and discuss the texts read. No prior knowledge is required, but it is expected that at the end of the course students will be capable of working with and applying such critical theories on literary works. Active participation in classes through discussion, reading and various projects is expected.
ÍSL504F The World of Medieval Romance
Graduate Course
This course will consider the cultural realm of the romance and the way in which it was transmitted in thirteenth and fourteenth century Iceland and Norway. We will consider topics such as the influence of the romance on local literary traditions, the transformations that occurred in the translation process, and the role of the romance tradition for the translators as well as the Norse readers.
05.00.20 The Arthurian Legend
Undergraduate Course
In this course we will read various works about King Arthur and his knights and seek to analyse them in their historical and cultural context. The tales of the Knights of the Round Table spread across all of Europe and were extremely popular. We will consider the narratological or ideological aspects that could explain their popularity.
05.15.37 Translating the Middle Ages
Graduate/Undergraduate Course
English
In this course we will be working on translation projects of Chaucer´s Canterbury Tales and other medieval English works as well as reading theoretical material that focuses on the problematics of translating ancient texts. We will also consider the differing approaches to translating medieval texts, such as the interrelations between language and literary form. Knowledge of Middle English is not a prerequisite as we will be working closely with the texts in class.
05.00.14 Boccaccio and Chaucer
Undergraduate Course (Cross-listed in Comparative Literature, English and Italian)
English/Icelandic
In this course we will read the works of two major medieval writers, Chaucer and Boccaccio. We will examine their texts within an historical context and seek to gain insight into the cultural realms that generated their masterpieces. The formation of English and Italian vernacular as literary languages will be discussed, as well as the importance of those writers for the development of English and Italian literary traditions. We shall also consider the literary influences of Boccaccio on Chaucer.
