Today, Iceland is a massively literate country, the most literate in the world, and authors and writers are celebrities. Almost everyone in Iceland is a writer, and many Icelanders will publish a book at some point in their lives. Itβs something in the blood, I think, as well as something in the culture, and in the spring water.
There is an inherent interconnectivity between epic literature and cultural identity. Nationals epics typically have their roots in an oral tradition, painting a romanticized portrait of the distant past. This rose-tinted view of cultural history leads to a skewed sense of identity--a perception of an original and "pure" society, untainted by outside cultures. It is… Continue reading Transnational Epics: How an Indian Epic Became Popular in 19th-Century Germany
π»ππ ππππ: ππππ ππ πππ ππππ ππ ππππ ππππ? At first glance, many folks in the English-speaking world would probably call it "Old English," but that name isn't really accurateβthe Old English language predates this style by a few centuries, and the calligraphic hands used to write Old English were entirely different. Its real name… Continue reading A Brief History of Fraktur
Iceland has become a popular destination in recent years, for photographers and tourists alike. With the closure of WOW airlines in 2019, ticket prices have skyrocketed, but the draw of the island country remains irresistible for many. Iceland offers photogenic, otherworldly landscapes and an interesting Nordic history that keeps people coming back for more. The… Continue reading Inside RΓΊtshellir
A quick walk-through of the character's history and significance in medieval Germanic literature
