Bad Boys and Wicked Women

This volume assembles 13 essays as the result of a workshop for international doctoral and post-doctoral researchers in Old Norse studies, which was held at the Institute for Nordic Philology at LMU in Munich in December 2015. The contributions' focus lies on different aspects of >bad< or="">evil< characters="" in="" saga="" literature,="" and="" they="" give="" testimony="" to="" the="" broad="" literary="" variety="" such="" figures="" display="" in="" old="" norse="" texts.="" the="" "antagonists="" and="" troublemakers="" in="" old="" norse="" literature"="" are="" here="" explored="" in="" their="" diversity,="" ranging="" from="" their="" literary="" psychology="" to="" their="" characteristics="" which="" often="" challenge="" gender="" norms.="" the="" contributions="" discuss="" the="" narrative="" strategies="" of="" presenting="" these="" characters="" to="" the="" audience,="" both="" positively="" and="" negatively.="" furthermore,="" they="" analyse="" how="" the="" central="" paradox="" of="" evil="" and="" its="" dependence="" on="" context="" is="" realised="" in="" various="" ways="" in="" old="" norse="">