Imagining Vínland : George Mackay Brown and the literature of the New World

Arnold, Martin

Abstract

This essay looks at George Mackay Brown's novel of 1992, Vinland, in the context of nineteenth- and twentieth-century “foundation myth” literature inspired by the Viking discovery of North America as originally recounted in medieval Icelandic sagas. This body of writing ranges from the New England “Fireside Poets” to Ottilie Liljencrantz's Vinland trilogy (1902–1906) to Nevil Shute's An Old Captivity (1940). The overarching aim will be to assess Mackay Brown's Orcadian perspective on Vínland in the context of what can broadly be regarded as a literature of colonialism; that is to say, a literature that explores the unequal relationships and value differences between the colonizers and the indigenous population.

Citation

Arnold, M. (2013). Imagining Vínland : George Mackay Brown and the literature of the New World. Journal of the North Atlantic, Special volume 4, 199-206. https://doi.org/10.3721/037.004.sp404

• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2013
• Deposit Date: Nov 13, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 13, 2014
• Journal: Journal of the North Atlantic
• Print ISSN: 1935-1933
• Publisher: Eagle Hill Institute
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: Special volume 4
• Pages: 199-206
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3721/037.004.sp404
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/466767
• Publisher URL: http://www.eaglehill.us/programs/journals/jona/journal-north-atlantic.shtml
• Additional Information: Copy of article first published in Journal of the North Atlantic, 2014, special volume 4