Natalie Van Deusen, PhD
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Contact
Director of Undergraduate Programs, Faculty of Arts - Modern Languages and Cultural Studies Dept
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Arts - History, Classics, & Religion Dept
- vandeuse@ualberta.ca
Overview
Area of Study / Keywords
Old Norse-Icelandic; Medieval Studies; Hagiography; Disability Studies
About
I hold the inaugural Henry Cabot and Linnea Lodge Scandinavian Professorship in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta, where I serve as Director of Undergraduate Programs and Program Advisor for Scandinavian, Norwegian, and Swedish. I am also Adjunct Professor in Religious Studies in the Department of History & Classics.
I serve as Editor for Scandinavian-Canadian Studies / Études scandinaves au Canada.
When I'm not on campus, you can find me teaching group exercise and spinning classes at the gym.
Research
My research interests include Old Norse-Icelandic paleography and philology, manuscript culture, hagiography and religious literature (poetry and prose), gender studies, and disability studies. I have published articles and book reviews in such venues as Scandinavian Studies, Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Speculum, Scandinavian-Canadian Studies, Arthuriana, Arkiv för nordisk filologi, and Maal og minne. In 2014, I was awarded a Killam Research Fund award from the University of Alberta to conduct archival research for a book I have since co-written and published with Professor Kirsten Wolf (UW-Madison), entitled The Saints in Old Norse and Early Modern Icelandic Poetry. I have also published a detailed study, edition, and translation of the history, cults, and legends of Martha and Mary Magdalen in medieval Iceland with the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. My most recent research has examined early modern poetry on famous (and infamous) women from the Bible, history, saga literature, as well as saints and their function; this work resulted in a number of articles and article-length editions of previously unedited (and in some cases, undiscovered) poems, a co-edited volume, and a forthcoming monograph on the post-Reformation poetic tradition surrounding St. Agnes of Rome. I recently completed a SSHRC Insight Development Grant for a research project entitled "'Completely Healed': Miracles, Cures, and Constructions of Disability in the Old Norse-Icelandic Sagas of Bishops," which resulted in several publications, and I am now beginning a new research project that examines stories of Helena Augusta in Old Norse and early modern Icelandic prose and poetry.
Teaching
I teach a variety of courses on Nordic history, literature, and culture from the Middle Ages to the present. I also supervise graduate students in MLCS and History, Classics, and Religion.
Courses
MLCS 599 - Directed Reading
NORSE 112 - Beginners' Old Norse II
A continuation of NORSE 111. Prerequisite: NORSE 111 or consent of Department.
SCAND 341 - Old Norse Mythology and Legends
Survey of Old Scandinavian mythology from the earliest times to the end of the Viking Period. Readings in English from the Poetic and Prose Eddas, including the heroic legends and lays. Also included is a brief look at runic inscriptions and skaldic poetry. Note: Taught in English.
SCAND 342 - The Vikings
Survey of the cultural and literary history of the Viking and Medieval periods in Scandinavia with selections in English from primary sources. Note: Taught in English.
SCAND 343 - Scandinavia Through Folklore
An exploration of Scandinavian folk literature as an expression of the human experience from pre-industrial to contemporary Scandinavia. Taught in English.
SCAND 399 - Special Topics
Featured Publications
“Mental Distress and Pseudo-Hagiography in Hrafns saga Sveinbjarnarsonar"
Van Deusen, Natalie M.
Scandinavian-Canadian Studies. 2025 December; 33
Agnesarkver: Saint Agnes of Rome in Post-Medieval Icelandic Verse
Van Deusen, Natalie M.
Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi. 2025 October;
“Miraculously Cured: On Physical, Sensory, and Mental Difference in the Byskupa sǫgur”
Van Deusen, Natalie M.
Journal of English and Germanic Philology. 2024 September; 123 (1):1-28
“From Sinner to Saint: Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir, Laxdœla saga, and the Lives of Women Penitents"
Van Deusen, Natalie M.
Scandinavian Studies. 2023 September; 95 ( 4):429-50
“Guðnýjarbók: The Tale of a Woman Manuscript Owner"
Van Deusen, Natalie M.
Bókavarða hlaðin Guðnýju Ragnarsdóttur sextugri 9. janúar 2023. Reykjavík: Menningar- og minningarsjóður Mette Magnussen. 2023 March;
Sainthood, Scriptoria, and Secular Erudition of Medieval and Early Modern Scandinavia: Essays in Honor of Kirsten Wolf
Dario Bullitta and Natalie M. Van Deusen, eds.
Turnhout: Brepols. 2022 August;
"Introduction"
Dario Bullitta and Natalie M. Van Deusen
Turnhout: Brepols. 2022 August; In Sainthood, Scriptoria, and Secular Erudition of Medieval and Early Modern Scandinavia: Essays in Honor of Kirsten Wolf. Ed. Dario Bullitta and Natalie M. Van Deusen
“A Tale of Model Women: An Edition of Kvendæmaþáttur.”
Natalie M. Van Deusen
Turnhout: Brepols. 2022 August; In Sainthood, Scriptoria, and Secular Erudition of Medieval and Early Modern Scandinavia: Essays in Honor of Kirsten Wolf. Ed. Dario Bullitta and Natalie M. Van Deusen
"Fyrir innan stokk: Friendship, Kinship, and Gendered Space in Medieval Iceland"
Natalie M. Van Deusen
2022 July; Female Friendship: Literary and Artistic Explorations, ed. Slav Gratchev
“Epitomes of Saints' Lives in Two Old Norse-Icelandic Manuscripts: AM 764 4to and AM 672 4to"
Natalie M. Van Deusen and Kirsten Wolf
Turnhout: Brepols. 2022 January; The Cult of Saints in the Archbishopric of Nidaróss. Ed. Jon Vidar Sigurdsson and Ragnhild Bø
“St. Agnes of Rome in Late Medieval and Early Modern Icelandic Verse"
Natalie M. Van Deusen
Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer. 2021 January;
"Kvennaríma: Cautionary Tales for Women in Early Modern Icelandic Verse”
Natalie M. Van Deusen
Cornell: Cornell University Library. 2021 January; In An Icelandic Literary Florilegium: A Festschrift in Honor of Úlfar Bragason, ed. Kirsten Wolf and Marianne Kalinke (Islandica LXII):219-43
Van Deusen, Natalie M. and Wolf, Kirsten
Turnhout: Brepols. 2020 January; Faith and Knowledge in Late Medieval and Early Modern Scandinavia, ed. Mikael Males and Karoline Kjesrud
Natalie M. Van Deusen
Toronto. 2019 February;
Van Deusen, Natalie M.
Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. 2019 February;
Natalie M. Van Deusen
Journal of English and Germanic Philology. 2018 January; 117 (2):235-43
Kirsten Wolf and Natalie M. Van Deusen
2017 January;
Natalie M. Van Deusen
Gripla. 2017 January; XXVIII
Natalie M. Van Deusen
Scandinavian Studies. 2015 January; 87 (3)
Natalie M. Van Deusen
Journal of English and Germanic Philology. 2014 January; 113 (2):206-221
Natalie M. Van Deusen
Scandinavian Studies. 2014 January; 86 (1):52-71
Natalie M. Van Deusen
Arthuriana. 2012 January; 22 (1):109-117
Natalie M. Van Deusen
Maal og minne. 2011 January; 103 (2):26-42
Natalie M. Van Deusen
Arkiv för nordisk filologi. 2011 January; 126