Old Norse at Cal

Tonight I attended Saga Club, which I have blogged about before. And I must say I find it just as much fun as the first time I went. Just now the group is into Haralds saga, working their way through Heimskringla, and the poetry bits in there passages tonight were wonderfully descriptive. It strikes me as much more odd to be in California, reading Old Norse, than it used to, now that I have spent so much time in Iceland.

But the good news is, neither Saga club nor the Scandinavian department at the University of California, Berkeley, look to be dying. Instead they are both going strong, with new members joining the club, and the department starting a job search to hire an Old Norse professor to replace Carol Clover. The department has gone now I think 4 years, or perhaps 5, without hiring that position, while waiting for the administration to give permission to move forward. It really fills me with hope for the future, to see the department have this opportunity to keep Old Norse studies in California alive and well.

In the midst of all the discussion of the recession and cut backs, it is nice for a change to think about growth and opportunity.

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