Dr
Siân Grønlie
Associate Professor in Medieval Literature and Kate Elmore Fellow in English
Governing Body Member, Equality and Diversity Officer
sian.gronlie@st-annes.ox.ac.ukTeaching
Old English, Middle English, Old Norse
Course Highlights
All English students study Old English in their first year, and Middle English in their second year. We also take field trips to the Ashmolean Museum and some important medieval sites in Oxfordshire. Old Norse is an option from English and Modern Languages: it gives students the opportunity to study Norse mythology and saga literature – the world that inspired C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien.
Biography
Siân did a degree in English Language and Literature, specialising in the medieval period (course II). She then completed a D.Phil on Old Norse literature and taught at various colleges in Oxford before settling on St Anne’s. She has a particular interest in medieval conversion narratives, saints’ lives, biblical interpretation, saga literature and storytelling. She is involved in outreach to local primary schools through the Viking storytelling project. In her role as Equality and Diversity Officer, she promotes an awareness of neurodiversity within the University.
Selected Publications
Grønlie, S.E., The Saint and the Saga Hero: Hagiography and Early Icelandic Literature (Brewer: Cambridge, 2017)
Grønlie, S.E., Conversion Narrative and Christian Identity: How Christianity came to Iceland. Medium Ævum 86, 123-46 (2017)
Grønlie, S.E., ‘Frá því er guð freistaði Abraham’: Genesis 22 in Old Norse-Icelandic. Sanctity and the Written Word in Medieval Scandinavia, forthcoming (2019)
Grønlie, S.E., ‘Cast out this Bondswoman’: Hagar and Ishmael in Old Norse Icelandic. Arkiv for nordisk filologi, forthcoming