Daisy L. Neijmann
Courses

SCAN 1004 BASIC MODERN ICELANDIC

This course aims to give students insight into the Icelandic language, its structure and history. The course equips students with a basic knowledge of Icelandic, both written and spoken, so that they will be able to read elementary texts, engage in simple daily conversation, and pursue further studies in the modern language. Full course description: [Word]

SCAN 2004 INTERMEDIATE MODERN ICELANDIC LANGUAGE

This course aims to develop the student's ability to speak and understand, read and write Icelandic up to an advanced level and to deepen their understanding of the grammar of the language. Particular attention will be given to impersonal and passive constructions and to the use of the subjunctive. Full course description: [Word]

SCAN 4004 DEGREE-LEVEL MODERN ICELANDIC LANGUAGE

Advanced study of the modern Icelandic language for students doing a BA degree in Icelandic who will have spent their third year in Iceland. The student will be instructed in the practical use of the language, as well as trained in a variety of registers. For this purpose, a variety of texts from a number of subject areas and time periods will be studied. Full course description: [Word]

SCAN 7204 MODERN ICELANDIC LITERATURE: SPECIAL TOPICS

The aim of this course is to provide students with a deeper insight into modern Icelandic literature (i.e. 1830-1960) through the study of poetry, short stories and/or larger works of literature, which are selected on the basis of a particular genre, theme or author.

During the academic year 2008-09, the focus of the course will be on the representation of the wartime experience (i.e., occupation and the military base) and its ramifications for Icelandic culture and identity. The Second World War constituted a watershed in Icelandic history: it catapulted Iceland into the modern age, and dramatically accelerated its development from a rural to a largely urban society. We will examine how different generations of fiction writers have responded to the socio-cultural consequences of this "onslaught of modernity" in their works. Full course description: [Word]

SCAN 7205 ICELANDIC LITERATURE: LAXNESS TO THE PRESENT

Cancelled and replaced by SCAN 7211 Medieval Echoes in Modern Icelandic Literature (see below).

SCAN 7503: ICELANDIC FOLKLORE AS CULTURAL NARRATIVE

Cancelled.

Co-taught courses:

SCAN 7211 MEDIEVAL ECHOES IN MODERN ICELANDIC LITERATURE (available each year)

This course serves as an introduction to Icelandic prose literature, viewed in a broad historical context. It provides students with knowledge of both medieval Icelandic literature and the modern Icelandic novel, and promotes an in-depth and sophisticated understanding of the links between the two corpuses. Students explore the continuing resonances of the sagas for modern Icelandic authors and examine the way in which these links manifest themselves. Topics such as characterization, structure, ideology and prose style are considered along with reception theory and general attitudes towards the place of the medieval past in modern Icelandic culture. Full course description: [Word]

SCAN 2220 INTRODUCTION TO SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE (available each year - no Icelandic component 2008-09)