Richard and Margaret Beck Lectures on Icelandic Literature
University of Victoria V8W 3W1 Victoria, BC, Canada

Wow! it was a great turnout for the previous lecture. Sadly, only one has left :( . Come on Sunday, November 25, 2018 2:00 3:30 pm, Clearihue A212. Guðrún Björk will talk about Huldufolk Elves, Faeries. Of shared European ancestry, like giants and trolls, elves or huldufólk and álfar, hidden people and faeries have worked powerfully upon the imagination of Icelanders on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and have become an important Icelandic Canadian identity theme. You will learn about some of the complex associations, meanings and manifestations of the hidden people in the European, including the Icelandic, background, as well as in Icelandic Canadian writing.

It's coming! The second Beck Series lecture of 2018 by Dr. Guðrún Björk Guðsteinsdóttir "Giants and Trolls" will take place on Sunday, October 28, at 2:00 pm in CLE A212. In rough lava-fields, in cliffs, and in rocks rising from the sea in Iceland, the faces and forms of giants sometimes emerge distinctly, accompanied by stories explaining how they turned to stone. Although seemingly embedded in Norwegian as well as Icelandic landscape, giants or tröll go back to the shared northern European legacy and faith recorded in the Eddas as þurs and undergo interesting transformations in the Icelandic Canadian literary heritage. Skogtroll (Forest Troll), by Theodor Kittelsen, 1906:

Do not miss out! On Sunday, September 23, at 2:00 pm in CLE A212, Dr. Guðrún Björk Guðsteinsdóttir will give her first Beck series lecture "Weird Visitations". Conviction that there is more to life than can be easily explained by science and technology has been persistent among Icelanders and their descendants in Canada. This lecture will consider how contemporary authors of the Icelandic diaspora draw upon stories of ghosts and other weird visitations in their works. Picture credit https://www.yourfriendinreykjavik.com/icelandic-mythical-w/

Please meet our Beck Series lecturer for 2018, Dr. Guðrún Björk Guðsteinsdóttir.

Hallo, aficionados of all things Icelandic. We are excited to announce a new season of Richard and Margaret Beck lectures at the University of Victoria. This year our guest of honor will be Dr. Guðrún Björk Guðsteinsdóttir, Professor of English Literature in the Faculty of Languages and Cultures at the University of Iceland. She is the coordinator of a graduate program on Literature, Culture and Media run jointly by English and French Studies, and of Inter-American Studies, offered by English, Spanish and French Studies. Her main research interests involve Icelandic Canadian literature, cultural politics multicultural literature, narratology, cross-cultural mediation and adaptation of literature (including translation and teaching as well as story-telling through audial and visual media).