IMC 2026: Sessions

Ideas about memory pervade Old Norse literature; the texts frequently juggle co-existing temporalities, shifting between them in surprising ways. These temporal intersections make this literary corpus a rich area for the study of cognition – a growing field within medieval studies. Through their presentation of memory and past cultures, Old Norse texts provide intriguing insights into memory and temporality in themselves and when combined with the transposition of modern scientific and linguistic ideas. Memory is fundamentally associated with the temporal: memory is contingent on the passing of time and our temporal experiences are shaped by the efficacy of memory processes. Old Norse poetry maintains memories of the past, as well as self-consciously constructing memory for its contemporaneous audience. The papers in this strand explore Old Norse poetic conceptions of memory: this highly-stylised poetry reveals how memory was considered and constructed using mythological narratives and kennings. This strand of the panel is concerned with mnemonic devices, be these the metaphorical systems that govern the poetry itself, the representations of mythological memory devices, or a combination of the two. Modern theories of cognition are considered here in conjunction with eddic and skaldic poetry, revealing surprising congruences between modern and medieval understandings of memory.