Evil in Icelandic literature, film and contemporary culture

The project examines the manifestations of evil in Icelandic literature, film, and contemporary culture. The aim is to examine how evil appears on micro and macro levels, if and how social structure encourages evil, and how it appears, for instance in characters and their internal relations. We will also be studying the sufferers of the evil of others.

Research team: dr. Guðrún Steinþórsdóttir og dr. Sigrún Margrét Guðmundsdóttir

Consulting Board: dr. Cathy Crauth, dr. Suzanne Keen og dr. Ronald Schleifer.

Empathy – language, literature, society

The project examines if special characteristics of narratives and the Icelandic language seem more important than others for invoking empathy in the reader. It also examines if empathy is related to certain political attitudes, particularly those pertaining to helping those in need and explores if literature can therefore be used to influence such attitudes.  

Research team: dr. Bergljót Soffía Kristjánsdóttir (Principal Investigator),  Hulda Þórisdóttir, Ph.d; Jóhannes Gísli Jónsson, Ph.d and Þórhallur Eyþórsson Ph.d.

The project is supported by a three-year Research Project Grant from The Icelandic Research Fund (The Icelandic Centre for Research) and funds.

Students  working on the project: Auður Stefánsdóttir Ph.d-student; Guðrún Steinþórsdóttir, Ph.d-student; Sigrún Margrét Guðmundsdóttir, Ph.d. student ; Ingunn Guðbrandsdóttir MA and Ása Bryndís Gunnarsdóttir, MA-student.

Voice and Emotion in Medieval Literature

The project examines the representation and conceptualisation of voice and emotion in medieval literature.  It seeks to theorise voice and the voicing of emotion via textual representation and the interaction between voice, memory and time.

Research team: Dr. Sif Ríkharðsdóttir, University of Iceland (Principal Investigator), Dr. Mishtooni Bose, University of Oxford, and Prof. David Lawton, Washington University, St. Louis.

The project is supported by a three-year Research Project Grant from The Icelandic Research Fund (The Icelandic Centre for Research) and funds a doctoral post and several master students.