Troll sex: youth, old age, and the erotic in Old Norse-Icelandic narratives of the supernatural

In this thesis, I investigate representations of adolescent and elderly sexuality from throughout the medieval Icelandic saga corpus. To access expressions regarding these liminal sexualities, I pay particular attention to depictions of supernatural phenomena. Because of their distance from everyday reality, such depictions can be used to express uninhibited commentaries about uncomfortable subjects. They can therefore provide us with expanded, nuanced, or alternative perspectives on the sexual ideologies indicated in naturalistic episodes and non-literary sources. Chapter One examines portrayals of male adolescent sexuality. I analyse supernatural ‘riding’ episodes from Eyrbyggja saga and Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra, which depict the violent sexual domination of women by young men as beneficial to masculine adult supremacy. I then analyse portrayals of trysts with troll-women in four sagas, which offer diverse commentaries on the impact of pre-marital sexual experimentation on male maturation. Chapter Two investigates depictions of female adolescent sexuality. I examine the ghostly sexual assault of a teenage girl in Heiðarvíga saga, an attack that is partly blamed on her nascent erotic volatility. I then consider a maiden-king episode from Sigrgarðs saga frækna, which conversely defends young women’s active engagement in the marital and sexual spheres. Chapter Three examines representations of elderly male sexuality. I analyse senex amans episodes in Hrólfs saga kraka and Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvis, which lament the loss of male socio-sexual power during senescence. However, the following examination of rapacious revenants indicates that, though this decline is regrettable, resisting it could be considered even more problematic. Chapter Four considers elderly female sexuality, which is almost exclusively denigrated throughout the corpus. Consistent with this trend, the Fróðárundur of Eyrbyggja saga are interpreted as symbolic criticisms of the sexuality of the menopausal Þórgunna. However, the ubiquity of this trend is then contested, with reference to the beneficial eroticism of ancient, supernatural foster-mothers.