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People

Dr Alexander Wilson

Research Associate in Old Norse Language and Literature

School/Department: Heritage and Culture, School of

Email: ajw118@leicester.ac.uk

Profile

My research focuses on the textual sources of the medieval North, particularly the Íslendingasögur (sagas of Icelanders). As a doctoral student at Durham University (2013–2017), I investigated the sociopolitical elements of Old Icelandic outlaw narratives. As a postdoctoral researcher at Universität Tübingen (2018–2023), I researched and published on the formal and narratological qualities of poetic quotation in saga literature. I joined SAAH in early 2024 as a research associate on the ERC project Body-Politics (PI Dr. Marianne Hem Eriksen).

2024–     Research associate:  (Leicester: ERC)

2020–2023     Research associate:  (Tübingen: DFG)

2018–2019     Guest lecturer (Tübingen: Teach@Tübingen)

2013–2017     Doctoral student (Durham: AHRC)

Research

My principal research interests include:

  • literary depictions of legality and community
  • connections between law and the body
  • constructions of desire, coercion, and the self in medieval texts
  • the formal and narrative properties of premodern texts
  • outlaw traditions in Britain and Scandinavia

Publications

Edited volumes

B. Þorgeirsdóttir, S. Gropper, J. Quinn and A. Wilson 2025.  (De Gruyter). ðŸ”“

Heiniger, A.K., R. Merkelbach and A. Wilson 2022.  (Narr-Francke-Attempto). ðŸ”“

Articles and book chapters

Wilson, A. [forthcoming]. Reading Harðar saga in a Fifteenth-Century Context. In After the Commonwealth: Texts, Politics, and Identities in Medieval Iceland, edited by B.A. Price and T. Morcom (Brepols).

Wilson, A. [2026 forthcoming]. The Transposition of Hyper-Masculine Gender Roles in Pálnatóki's Jómsvíkingalög. In Essays on Jómsvíkinga saga, edited by A. Finlay and J. Morawiec (VSNR).

Wilson, A. and B. Marshall [2026 forthcoming]. Precarious Lives: Intersections of Slavery and Outlawry in Medieval Iceland. In Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 22.

Marshall, B., E.L. Thompson, A. Wilson and M.H. Eriksen 2026. . In Open Arts Journal 12: 31–45. Special issue: "Picturing Bodies in Medieval and Early Modern Europe", edited by A. Murray and M. Thøfner. ðŸ”“

B. Þorgeirsdóttir, S. Gropper, J. Quinn and A. Wilson 2025. . In The Prosimetrum of the Íslendingasögur: Aesthetic and Narrative Effects, edited by B. Þorgeirsdóttir, S. Gropper, J. Quinn and A. Wilson (De Gruyter). ðŸ”“

Wilson, A. 2025. . Beiträge zur mediävistischen Erzählforschung Themenheft 18: 107–139. Special issue: "Narrative Voices: Options and Limitations in Saga Literature", edited by A.K. Heiniger. ðŸ”“

Wilson, A. 2025. . In The Prosimetrum of the Íslendingasögur: Aesthetic and Narrative Effects, edited by B. Þorgeirsdóttir, S. Gropper, J. Quinn and A. Wilson (De Gruyter). ðŸ”“

Wilson, A. 2025. . In Saga Emotions, edited by C. Larrington, G.L. Evans and B. Þorgeirsdóttir (Manchester University Press).

Wilson, A. 2025. . In Storyworlds and World-Building in Medieval Northern European Literature, edited by R. Merkelbach (Brepols).

Wilson, A. and N. Goodison. 2025. . In Re-considering Consent and Coercion in Medieval Literature, edited by J. Bonsall and H. Piercy (Brepols). ðŸ”“

B. Þorgeirsdóttir, S. Gropper, J. Quinn, T. Wills and A. Wilson 2022. . Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 18: 51–81.

Wilson, A. 2022. . In Þáttasyrpa – Studien zu Literatur, Kultur und Sprache in Nordeuropa, edited by A.K. Heiniger, R. Merkelbach and A. Wilson (Narr-Francke-Attempto). ðŸ”“

Wilson, A. 2021. . In Unwanted: Neglected Approaches, Characters and Texts in Old Norse–Icelandic Studies, edited by A. Schmidt and D. Hahn (Utz Verlag).

Wilson, A. 2019. . In Social Norms in Medieval Scandinavia, edited by J. Morawiec, A. Jochymek and G. Bartusik (Arc Humanities Press).

Wilson, A. 2016. Quaestio Insularis 16: 117–142.

Teaching

At Durham University and Universität Tübingen, I designed and taught modules on a wide range of subjects, including: Old Norse, Old English and Middle English literature; medieval European romance; literary and cultural theory; the history of the English language; and outlaw traditions in the medieval North.

In SAAH, I contribute teaching to the third-year module AR3092 Bodies and Beings of the Viking World.

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