> I'm sure all of us who are interested in the Old Norse language
> are grateful for your assessment of Icelandic scholarship, and the
> general inability of the Icelanders to comprehend the old texts.
> Let us all avoid reading the garbage they produce, since it is not
> even worth translating. Thank the gods we have the Americans to
> explain it all to us. I'm rather disappointed, though, that you
> don't mention the names of any of those abominable Icelandic
> scholars, though - surely you can list some names for us to avoid,
> since you are so familiar with Icelandic scholarship?
As an independant person (not a scholar, but rather only on the list for the
sake of trying to learn the ON language) I'm going to offer up a note here.
Eysteinn, we have had our own differences before, though I always coming out
seeing your point and thinking they are very well made.
In this regard, I would perhaps like tos ay that both the Icelandic and
American scholars leave much to be desired, since there is a limited source
from which to work, which does require both a fluency in the ON language and
a good grasp on the sources to interperet and re-interperet them.
I would say that the quality of Scholarship has nothing to do with
nationality and everything to do with the requirements I just spoke of.
I think it is a shame that scholarship that IS good from all sources cannot
be taken as good scholarship as a whole.
If there are new scholarly sources that can be documented and located, post
'em (and perhaps offer up a rough translation for those of us who are
linguistically-impaired enough not to be able to read them). If there are
good articles from any source, offer 'em! I'm sure everyone from all places
would like to get an idea of what's out there that has an effect on Asatru
and heathenism and the Lore.
No reason to continue fighting about what's good and what's bad, who's right
and who's wrong. Get sources that are good, and stick with them, and suggest
them to others, and let them get a good understanding and handle on what is
good to read and believe and what isn't. Answer their questions.
I think understanding the lore and understanding anything in history is
1/10th scholarship, 9/10ths the interperetation of the person reading the
sources.
Now, back to learning the language and ignoring the scholarship issues...
Sorin