New Books Network Matthias Egeler, "Elves and Fairies: A Short History of the Otherworld" (Yale UP, 2025)
Oct 11, 2025
Matthias Egeler, a Professor of Old Norse at Frankfurt University, dives into the enchanting world of elves and fairies, exploring their evolution from medieval legends to modern cultural icons. He discusses Iceland's unique folklore, contrasting its kinder elves with Ireland's dangerous fairies. Egeler connects fairy imagery to urban nostalgia during industrialization and traces the shift toward child-friendly representations. Additionally, he highlights Tolkien's revival of heroic elves and the tourism boom around Icelandic folklore.
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Joyful Scholarly Storytelling
- Matthias Egeler wrote the book to combine scholarly rigor with the delight of medieval and traditional stories during COVID lockdown.
- He aimed to make research joyful for readers while maintaining academic standards.
Iceland's Rich Archive Reveals Patterns
- Icelandic sources (Poetic Edda, sagas, rural storytelling) provide rich, repeated patterns for elf lore.
- This dense archive allows researchers to spot landscape and motif regularities across centuries.
Elves As Local Neighbors
- Icelandic elves tie closely to specific landscape features near farms, like stones or hills.
- Over time elves became explicitly Christian in stories and even have 'elf churches' in folklore.
