ABSTRACT
To engage medieval conceptualizations of the paranormal is, in effect, to broach the larger doors of Western philosophy, as ‘the normal’ itself emerges as contingent and sociohistorically variable. Social otherness has become enmeshed with paranormal otherness, resulting in reading paranormal as marginal and marginal as paranormal. With increased attention toward saga portrayal of paranormal creatures comes a broader interest in revaluating the sagas’ contested relationship with folklore and regional beliefs as well as developing new methodologies for critical reengagements with post-medieval folkloric material. The epistemological assumptions and presuppositions discernible in some literary criticism of the sagas have undergone decades of extensive revaluation in the fields of social and cognitive sciences. A departure from anthropomorphic stereotypes of paranormal ‘beings’ has allowed critical attention to shift instead towards their ‘becomings’, regarding them as culturally mediated manifestations of perceived forces, presences, and influences in the situated environment, as empirically experienced through the senses.
