The question of the extent of Gaelic influence on medieval Icelandic literature and culture has fascinated scholars for many years, especially the possible relationship between Irish voyage literature and Icelandic narratives concerning journeys to the Otherworld. This book provides a fresh examination and reappraisal of the topic. It compares the Irish immrama ‘voyages’, including the greatly influential Hiberno-Latin text Navigatio Sancti Brendani ‘The Voyage of Saint Brendan’, and echtrai ‘otherworld adventures’ with the Icelandic fornaldarsögur and related material, such as the voyages of Torkillus in Saxo’s Gesta Danorum. It also assesses stories about Hvítramannaland, touches on similarities in folk narratives and examines the influence of Classical and Christian literature on the tales. In conclusion, the book makes proposals to account for the parallels and differences between the two traditions and is accompanied by an extensive bibliography and several indices.

Séamus Mac Mathúna is Professor Emeritus of Irish and Celtic Studies, Ulster University. He took his primary degree at Queen’s University, Belfast, and carried out postgraduate studies at the Universities of Zürich and Reykjavík on Indo-European, Linguistics, Old Norse and Modern Icelandic. He subsequently taught at the Universities of Uppsala and Galway. His research interests include Early Irish language and literature, medieval voyage literature, Irish folklore, the syntax, semantics and lexicon of Irish, and Celtic links with Nordic, Slavic and Germanic cultures.

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