Minor characters

Tomorrow I will be giving my students feedback on the rough draft of their papers about Grettir's Saga. Most of my class is of Asian descent, some of them grew up in China even. So I am looking forward to the perspective they bring to a text like Grettir's Saga.

I have required them to begin their papers talking about a character other than just Grettir, because I think those minor characters all in their way elucidate something about Grettir. But of course I certainly do not expect that anyone would ever try to write an entire college level essay on Grettir's Saga, without actually talking directly about Grettir!

We'll see what they do.

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