Viðar Hreinsson
Reykjavik Academy
(office) Hringbraut 121 – 4th floor
107 Reykjavik Iceland
(home) Hagamel 40
107 Reykjavik Iceland
Tel: + 354 8448645
vidar@akademia.is
Biography
Mag.-art. in literary studies, University of Copenhagen 1989
BA in Icelandic and literary studies, University of Iceland 1980.
Independent literary scholar, grew up on a farm in North Iceland. Has written 3
biographies and published extensively on various aspects of Icelandic literature and
culture: Saga-literature, 17th century literature, post-Gutenberg Manuscript
culture, Icelandic-North American immigrant literature, modern literature. Dozens
of university and conference lectures on Icelandic literary and cultural history in
North America, Iceland, Scandinavia and the Baltic countries. Developing
ecocritical approaches to Icelandic literary and cultural history.
Occupation:
September 1, 2005-March 31, 2010: Director of the Reykjavík Academy.
1994-2005: Independent scholar/part-time university teacher in Iceland & Denmark
September 1992 - August 1994: Assistant Professor in Icelandic, University of
Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
Books in English:
Comic Sagas and Tales from Iceland. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by
Viðar Hreinsson. 2013, Penguin Classics, London.
Wakeful Nights. Stephan G. Stephansson: Icelandic-Canadian Poet. 2012 Calgary,
Benson Ranch Inc.
The Complete Sagas of Icelanders I-V 1997. (General editor, other members of the
editorial committee: Robert Cook, Terry Gunnell, Keneva Kunz and Bernard
Scudder) Reykjavík: Bókaútgáfan Leifur Eiríksson.
Aims for NABO Meeting
I’m participating in the preparations of the program Inscribing Environmental
Memory in the Icelandic Sagas (IEM) and as a literary/saga scholar I’m interested in
getting acquainted with the various archaeological projects presented at the
conference, in order to enhance interdisciplinary dialogues in approaching
environmental issues in the sagas.