Geraldine Barnes

Geraldine Barnes is Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney, within the Discipline of English and Writing in the School of Art, Communication and English. She earned her BA from the University of Sydney and PhD from the University of London. A Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (FAHA), Barnes held the position of McCaughey Professor of English Language and Early English Literature and served as Head of the School of Letters, Art, and Media. Her career at the University of Sydney's Department of English spans decades, during which she advanced research and teaching in early English literature.

Barnes specializes in medieval literature, focusing on Middle English romance, Old Norse-Icelandic sagas and riddarasögur, and the cultural history of the Vinland voyages. Major publications include the monograph Counsel and Strategy in Middle English Romance (D.S. Brewer, 1993), examining motifs of counsel and strategy in works like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Viking America: The First Millennium (D.S. Brewer, 2001), which traces the literary afterlife of Norse American explorations from the Middle Ages to modernity. She also authored The Bookish Riddarasögur: Writing Romance in Late Medieval Iceland (2014). As editor, she produced influential volumes such as Old Norse Studies in the New World (University of Sydney, 1994) and Old Norse Myths, Literature and Society (University of Sydney, 2000), co-edited with Margaret Clunies Ross to mark the jubilee of Old Norse teaching at Sydney. Additional contributions encompass chapters like 'Romance in Iceland' in Old Icelandic Literature and Society (Cambridge University Press, 2000) and articles including 'Truth, Fiction, and "The Daughter of Time"' (Sydney Studies in English, 2000) and 'Nostalgia, medievalism and the Vínland voyages' (postmedieval, 2011). Her scholarship has shaped understandings of medieval narrative traditions and their enduring impact.

Professional Email: geraldine.barnes@sydney.edu.au