Past Symposia: 2016-2017

Saga and Story: An Interdisciplinary Exploration from the Vikings to Our Time

Organized by Sarah  Harlan-Haughey (English/Honors) and Joel Anderson (History), this year-long symposium investigated and analyzed the importance of medieval narratives in historical context as well as in contemporary fiction. There have been lectures by Harvard scholars Joseph Harris and Stephen Mitchell, a graduate student conference and a reading group, as well as several course offerings connected to the symposium’s theme. In March Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir from The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies spoke on Njal’s Saga, and in April the symposium concluded with a gala event: a two-day conference on the Icelandic writer Halldòr Laxness.