Dr Tarrin Wills

Lecturer

BA (hons), PhD (Sydney)

photo courtesy of Matthew Driscoll

Personal Details

Telephone:	+44 (0)1224 272627
Fax:	+44 (0)1224 272624
E-mail:	t.wills@abdn.ac.uk
Address:	EIG4, 24 High Street (former Elphinstone Institute)

Web Links

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Biography

Tarrin Wills is Lecturer in Early Scandinavian Studies, and is affiliated with the Centre for Scandinavian Studies. He has a BA (hons) and PhD from the University of Sydney. He worked from 2001-7 as a postdoctoral Research Associate on the project Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages, including 18 months as a visiting scholar at Den Arnamagnæanske Samling, University of Copenhagen (2003-4).

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Research Interests

Tarrin’s main research interest is in Old Norse language and literature. He has been closely involved in the project, Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages, and is a member of the coordinating/editorial committee. He has further interests in palaeography; runology and the history of the runology; Old and Middle English; as well as linguistics and discourse analysis. Tarrin is also closely involved in various digitisation projects, and is responsible for the skaldic poetry database at http://skaldic.arts.usyd.edu.au. He is also involved in the Medieval Nordic Text Archive (Menota) and the Medieval Unicode Font Initiative (MUFI).

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Current Research

Tarrin is currently working on:

Reviewing the evidence for the transmission of oral poetry in medieval Scandinavia and revising Gísli Sigurðsson's thesis concerning the Third Grammatical Treatise.
Establishing new methods for dating and analysing Old Norse poetry, using selected data from the 10,000-odd transcriptions in the skaldic database, including spatial data.
Developing a new lexicon of Old Norse poetry, based on the new edition.
Developing a new index of skaldic diction (kenningar and heiti), based on the new edition.
Putting the final touches on his edition, translation and commentary on the anonymous verse in the Third Grammatical Treatise for the skaldic project.
Finishing editions, translations and commentary for the skaldic project, including verses in: Bandamanna saga, Harðar saga, Stjörnu-Odda draumr, Bergbúa þáttr, Kumlbúa þáttr and Draumr Þórsteins Siðuhallssonar.

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Collaborations

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages
Medieval Nordic Text Archive (Menota)

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Teaching Responsibilities

2009-10

EL30WB Chaucer (lectures and language tutorials)
EL40OP Sagas of Icelanders (Convenor, seminars)
EL43OP Beowulf and Old English (Convenor, seminars)
HI1018 Vikings! (lectures)
HI4018 Legendary Scandinavia (seminars)
HI5080 Old Norse Language and Literature (Coordinator, seminars)
HI5029 Medieval Texts and Manuscripts (seminar)
LN1001 Communication and Language (lectures)
EL2510 History of Language in the British Isles (lectures)
HI35xx Sex and Violence in Cold Climates (seminars)
HI5574 Runes and Place Names (seminars)

2008-9: EL30WB Chaucer (lectures and language tutorials); EL40OP Sagas of Icelanders (Convenor, seminars); EL43OP Beowulf and Old English (Convenor, seminars); LN1001 Communication and Language (lectures); HI1018 Vikings! (lectures); HI5080 Old Norse Language and Literature (Coordinator, seminars); HI5067 Approaches to Scandinavian Studies (seminar); HI5574 Runes and Place Names (Seminars); EL2510 History of Language in the British Isles (lectures)

2007-8: EL5302 Preparation and Presentation of Scholarly Writing (Convenor); HI5080 Old Norse Language and Literature (Convenor); EL30KF Knights, Virgins and Viragos (language tutorials); HI5029 Medieval Texts and Manuscripts (guest lecture); EL48ON Sagas of the Icelanders (Convenor); EL2510 History of Language in the British Isles (lectures); HI1015 Vikings! (lectures)

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External Responsibilities

Council member, Viking Society for Northern Research
Member, Australian Early Medieval Association
Member, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Sydney
Member, Teachers of Old English in Britain and Ireland
Member, Scottish Society for Northern Studies

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Selected Publications

Tarrin Wills and Stefanie Würth (eds), Hugsvinnsmál in Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages Vol. 7, ed. Margaret Clunies Ross (Turnhout: Brepols, 2007).

Jonna Louis-Jensen and Tarrin Wills (eds), Plácitusdrápa in Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages Vol. 7, ed. Margaret Clunies Ross (Turnhout: Brepols, 2007).

Tarrin Wills, ‘The Anonymous Verse in the Third Grammatical Treatise’ in 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, ed. John McKinnell, David Ashurst and Donata Kick (Durham: Centre for medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2006).

Odd Einar Haugen, Matthew Driscoll, Karl Gunnar Johansson, Tarrin Wills, Rune Kyrkjebø, The Menota Handbook: Guidelines for the electronic encoding of medieval Nordic primary sources. Published by the Medieval Nordic Text Archive (Menota), Bergen, 2005. <http://menota.org/guidelines-2/contents/contents_2-0-b.page>

Judy Quinn, Kate Heslop and Tarrin Wills (eds), Learning and Understanding in the Old Norse World: Essays in Honour of Margaret Clunies Ross (Turnhout: Brepols, 2007).

Tarrin Wills, ‘The Third Grammatical Treatise and Ole Worm’s Literatura Runica’, Scandinavian Studies 76 (2004), 439-58.

Tarrin Wills, ‘Theories of the Antiquity of Runes’ in Scandinavia and Christian Europe in the Middle Ages: Papers of the 12th International Saga Conference ed. Rudolf Simek and Judith Meurer (Bonn: Hausdruckerei der Universität Bonn, 2003).

Tarrin Wills, ‘Electronic Editing of the Skaldic Corpus’. Skandinavistik 32 (2002), 25-30.

Diana Whaley, Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Gade, Edith Marold, Guðrún Nordal and Tarrin Wills, Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages: Editors’ Manual. 2nd edition. (Sydney: Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Sydney, 2002).

Web resources (in collaboration):

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