Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir
Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir is a Professor of Medieval Icelandic Literature at the University of Iceland (http://uni.hi.is/adalh/). She is a former Associate Professor in Folkloristics and a research fellow at The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies. She has participated in Nordplus and Erasmus exchange programs and taught in Fróðskaparsetur Føroya in Tórshavn, University College, Dublin, The Arnamagnæan Institut, Copenhagen, University of Rzeszów, Poland, and Charles University, Prague. She is currently supervising four Ph.D. students working in her area of research.
Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir’s research interests focus on Old Norse literature, specifically legendary sagas (fornaldarsögur), chivalric romances, folktales, traditional ballads, and metrical romances (rímur). Some other themes in her research include manuscript studies, the history and narrative role of magic, the history of dancing in Iceland, fairy tales, folk poetry, narrative motifs, and the supernatural in literature. She was awarded the Dag Strömback award from Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien för svensk folkkultur, Uppsala (2016) and the Icelandic Hagþenkir Prize for non-fiction and educational material (2021). Aðalheiður has written extensively on Icelandic literature and folktales, and her publications include the monographs Úlfhams saga, 2001, Strengleikar, 2006, and Arfur aldanna I–II, 2021. She is one of the six authors of the new Icelandic literary history, Íslenskar bókmenntir: Saga og samhengi, 2021. Her most recent articles include: „Of Wavering Flames and Fires: Northern Lights in Icelandic Sources“ in ARV 75, 2019, „Arthurian Legend in Rímur and Ballads“ in Late Arthurian Tradition in Europe (La matière arthurienne tardive en Europe, 1270–1530), 2020, „Enchantment and Anger in Medieval Icelandic Literature and Later Folklore“ in Fictional Practice. Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination, 2021, and „Mythological Motifs and Other Narrative Elements of Vǫlsunga saga in Icelandic Folk- and Fairytales“ in Folklore and Old Norse Mythology, 2021.
