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Carl Phelpstead  BA (Sheffield), MPhil, DPhil (Oxon)

Professor Carl Phelpstead BA (Sheffield), MPhil, DPhil (Oxon)

Deputy Head of School and Head of Subject

School of English, Communication and Philosophy

Email
PhelpsteadC@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 29208 74245
Campuses
John Percival Building, Room 2.45, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU
Users
Available for postgraduate supervision

Overview

I teach and research Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English literature, related medieval literatures, and modern British medievalism. 

In addition to articles on Old Norse-Icelandic sagas, Old English literature, hagiography, Chaucer, and modern medievalism, my publications include the following books:

  • An Introduction to the Sagas of Icelanders (2020)
  • Tolkien and Wales: Language, Literature and Identity (2011), winner of the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies in 2012
  • Holy Vikings: Saints’ Lives in the Old Icelandic Kings’ Sagas (2007)
  • Old Norse Made New: Essays on the Post-Medieval Reception of Old Norse Literature and Culture (2007), co-ed. with David Clark
  • ed., A History of Norway and the Passion and Miracles of the Blessed Óláfr trans. Devra Kunin (2001).

My current research interests include the place of Old Norse literature in World Literature studies and the contribution that Old Norse and Old English literature can make to ecocriticism and the environmental humanities.

I served as President of the Viking Society for Northern  Research from 2018 to 2020. I am co-editor of the publications of the  Viking Society and one of the editors of its journal Saga-Book. In 2020 I also became one of the editors of the Viking Collection book series, published by the University Press of Southern Denmark. 

Publication

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

  • Phelpstead, C. L. 2017. Time. In: Jakobsson, ?. and Jakobsson, S. eds. The Routledge Research Companion to the Medieval Icelandic Sagas. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, pp. 187-197.

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2001

2000

Articles

Book sections

Books

Conferences

  • Phelpstead, C. L. 2009. Hair loss, the tonsure, and masculinity in medieval Iceland. Presented at: 14th International Saga Conference, Uppsala, Sweden, 9-15 August 2009. Institutionen för nordiska språk
  • Phelpstead, C. 2006. Historicizing plausibility: the anticipation of disbelief in Oddr Snorrason’s Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar. Presented at: 13th International Saga Conference, Durham, UK and York, UK, 6-12 August 2006 Presented at McKinnell, J., Ashurst, D. and Kick, D. eds.The Fantastic in Old Norse/Icelandic Literature – Sagas and the British Isles: Preprint Papers of the 13th International Saga Conference, Durham and York, 6th–12th August, 2006, Vol. 2. Durham: Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies pp. 759-768.
  • Phelpstead, C. 2003. Masculinity and sexuality in sagas of Scandinavian royal saints. Presented at: Scandinavian and Christian Europe in the Middle Ages. Papers of the 12th International Saga Conference, Bonn, 28th July - 2 August 2003 Presented at Simek, R. and Meurer, J. eds.Scandinavia and Christian Europe in the Middle Ages: Papers of the 12th International Saga Conference Bonn/Germany, 28th July – 2nd August 2003. Bonn: Hausdruckerei der Universität Bonn pp. 421-428.

Other

  • Phelpstead, C. L. 2010. Men in Anglo-Saxon England.. The English Parish Church Through the Centuries: Daily Life & Spirituality, Art & Architecture, Literature & Music Culture and Christianity Project.
  • Phelpstead, C. L. 2010. Old English verse saints’ lives. The English Parish Church Through the Centuries: Daily Life & Spirituality, Art & Architecture, Literature & Music Culture and Christianity Project.

Websites

  • Phelpstead, C. L. 2017. Time. In: Jakobsson, ?. and Jakobsson, S. eds. The Routledge Research Companion to the Medieval Icelandic Sagas. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, pp. 187-197.

Research

My research is focused mainly in two areas:

  • medieval literature (Old Norse-Icelandic, Old English, and related medieval literatures)
  • modern British medievalism (especially the influence of medieval literature on twentieth-century writers)

I have written several articles on gender and sexuality in Old Norse literature. More recently, I have been exploring ecocritical approaches to medieval literature and the place of Old Norse literature in World Literature and global medieval studies. I also have long-standing interests in medieval hagiography and the relationship between religion and literature. In the area of medievalism I have published mainly on the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, though I have also written about W. H. Auden, George Mackay Brown, Peter Maxwell Davies, David Jones, C. S. Lewis, David Rudkin, and Victorian saga translations.

My main current projects include co-editing a Festschrift and (with Tim Bourns) a collection of essays on ecocriticism and Old Norse-Icelandic literature.

I am a member of the Cardiff Environmental Cultures group: Cardiff Environmental Cultures – Cardiff ScienceHumanities

Teaching

I have taught a variety of different modules at BA and MA level, mainly on Old English or Old Norse, but also including some Middle English and later literature.

Biography

I was educated at the Universities of Sheffield and Oxford and then appointed to Cardiff University, where I have worked since 1999.

  • 2012 Promoted to Professor
  • 2010 Promoted to Reader
  • 2007 Promoted to Senior Lecturer
  • 1999 Appointed as lecturer in Old English and Old Norse at Cardiff University
  • 1999 DPhil, University of Oxford
  • 1995 MPhil in English Medieval Studies 1100–1500, University of Oxford
  • 1992 BA in English Language with Medieval Literature, University of Sheffield

Honours and awards

  • Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies (2012)

Professional memberships

2018-2020: President of the Viking Society for Northern  Research

2001-present: Council Member of the  Viking Society for Northern  Research

2007-2014: Committee Member of Teachers of  Old English in Britain and Ireland

Member of:

  • Early English Text Society
  • Hagiography Society
  • Norse Hagiography Network
  • Teachers of Old English in Britain and Ireland
  • Viking Society for Northern Research.

Committees and reviewing

2020-present: One of four editors of the Viking Collection book series, published by the University Press of Southern Denmark.

2007-present: Joint editor of publications for the Viking Society for Northern  Research

2004-present: Co-Editor of the journal Saga-Book

Supervisions

I am interested in supervising PhD students in the areas of:

  • Old Norse-Icelandic literature
  • Old English literature
  • Ecocriticism and medieval literature
  • Medieval hagiography