2022
2023-01-11
10.17192/mjr.2022.24.8561
urn:nbn:de:hebis:04-0004-2022-307-85619
keine Angabe
Ghost Stories
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
public -Frei abrufbar
This article presents a postcolonial-ecocritical reading of the Icelandic novel Lifandilífslækur (2018) by Bergsveinn Birgisson, arguing that this work can be interpreted as a call for a revision of Iceland’s position and role in the colonial system and its legacy which we are still grappling with, especially in terms of climate change and other ecological crises. The novel places an emphasis on the effects of colonialism for Icelanders, and Iceland being a part of a power system based on the notion of man’s dominance over nature. Focusing on the role of ghosts in the novel—figures that have obvious roots in Icelandic folklore — a change in focus is noted. Ghosts that once were depicted as relics of a heathen past coexisting with medieval Christianity, and later assigned a nationalist-romantic value, are today considered as potentially important in contemporary environmental debate with its focus on social power structures and toxic hierarchies.
ecocriticism
folklore
The supernatural in contemporary literature
postcolonial studies
Icelandic literature
power systems
hierarchies
ghosts
ecocriticism
https://doi.org/10.17192/mjr.2022.24.8561
This article presents a postcolonial-ecocritical reading of the Icelandic novel Lifandilífslækur (2018) by Bergsveinn Birgisson, arguing that this work can be interpreted as a call for a revision of Iceland’s position and role in the colonial system and its legacy which we are still grappling with, especially in terms of climate change and other ecological crises. The novel places an emphasis on the effects of colonialism for Icelanders, and Iceland being a part of a power system based on the notion of man’s dominance over nature. Focusing on the role of ghosts in the novel—figures that have obvious roots in Icelandic folklore — a change in focus is noted. Ghosts that once were depicted as relics of a heathen past coexisting with medieval Christianity, and later assigned a nationalist-romantic value, are today considered as potentially important in contemporary environmental debate with its focus on social power structures and toxic hierarchies.
folklore
2023-01-11
https://journals.uni-marburg.de/0004/2022/307/8561/8561.png
The supernatural in contemporary literature
English
Auður
Aðalsteinsdóttir
Aðalsteinsdóttir, Auður
2023-01-11
application/pdf
postcolonial studies
2022
Ghost Stories
urn:nbn:de:hebis:04-0004-2022-3078
24
2023-01-11
Vol 24 No 1 (2022)
1
https://doi.org/10.17192/
https://journals.uni-marburg.de/0004/cover.png
Institute for Comparative Cultural Research - Study of Religions and Anthropology
Religion
Philosophy and theory of religion
1996
1418722-x
Periodical
urn:nbn:de:hebis:04-00048
Marburg Journal of Religion
1612-2941
Fachbereich Gesellschaftswissenschaften und Philosophie
Deutschhausstraße 9, 35037 Marburg
Marburg
Philipps-Universität Marburg
https://journals.uni-marburg.de/0004/2022/307/cover.png
2022
PeriodicalPart
Icelandic literature
power systems
article
Universitätsbibliothek Marburg
Publikationsserver der Universitätsbibliothek Marburg
hierarchies
urn:nbn:de:hebis:04-0004-2022-307-85619
ghosts
2023-01-11
Oppression and Disasters in Past and Present Iceland
PRESERVATION_MASTER
VIEW
PDF
PRESERVATION_MASTER
application/pdf
8267
//journals.uni-marburg.de/0004/article/download/8561/8267
8267