Tale of a Fool?

Taylor & Francis

A Tale of a Fool?A Microhistory of an 18th-Century Peasant Woman\nAuthor(s): Gun Hallgrmsdttir\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Routledge\nISBN-13: 9781138061347, 978-1138061347\nSynopsis\nA Tale of a Fool? explores the life of Gurn Ketilsdttir, a peasant woman born in Iceland around 1759. Gurn worked as a farmhand for most of her adult life, and when she died she left behind a partial autobiography, which is believed to be the oldest autobiography of an Icelandic peasant woman.\n\nIn this autobiography, Gurn writes openly about her life and provides colourful depictions of the society in which she lived, providing one of the few first-hand accounts that have survived from members of the peasant class at that time. A Tale of a Fool? demonstrates how it is possible to work with this kind of source using the methods of microhistory as a historical tool to study events and individuals of the past. In doing so, it not only provides an illum.