Natalie Hopwood

Profile

I am a PhD candidate in the School of English researching encounters with the monstrous (dragons, dwarfs, and the undead) as points of intertextuality and hypertextuality in Old Norse legendary and romance sagas. My previous research includes an overview of the figure of the Old Norse dragon in my undergraduate MA in Medieval History at the University of St Andrews and an analysis of the undead episodes of Eyrbyggja saga in my MPhil in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at the University of Cambridge. My research focus is on Old Norse literature, cultural interests that drive how encounters between heroes and monsters are constructed within the sagas, and the relationship between saga motifs and shared themes as evidence for the possibility of a medieval Icelandic “popular culture”. I also work on the cultural reception of Old Norse mythology in modern fiction, with a specific focus on comic books and associated adaptations (especially the works of Jack Kirby).

Research interests

• The supernatural in Old Norse literature

• Cultural use and impact of monsters and monstrosity in Old Norse literature

• Intertextuality and hypertextuality in later medieval Old Norse sagas

• Medieval popular culture

• Reception of medieval literature in American comic books

• The use of Old Norse mythology as a propaganda tool in twentieth-century comic books

Qualifications

• MPhil in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (University of Cambridge, 2021-22)
• MA in Medieval History (University of St Andrews, 2017-2021)