Research Catalog

Title

The American discovery of the Norse : an episode in nineteenth-century American literature / Erik Ingvar Thurin.

Author

Thurin, Erik Ingvar.

Publication

Lewisburg [Pa.] : Bucknell University Press ; London ; Cranbury, NJ : Associated University Presses, [1999], ©1999.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

184 pages; 25 cm

Summary

• "The interest of a group of American writers in the Norse (Viking Age Scandinavians) began to develop in the late 1830s, reaching its high point at mid-century and tapering off after the Civil War as the members of the group neared the end of their careers (only one of the authors discussed, Julia Clinton Jones, joins the club at the end of the period)."--BOOK JACKET.
• "This period, defined as the original phase of the American discovery of the Norse, features two essayists, Emerson and Thoreau, who refer to the Norse in writing on a variety of topics. Fiction is represented by Melville alone (American writers of fiction like Stowe and Hawthorne shun the Norse). Neither the essayists nor Melville uses Norse themes as their primary subject. That is reserved for the poets: Lowell, Whittier, Taylor, Longfellow, and Julia Clinton Jones."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject

• American literature > 19th century > History and criticism
• Comparative literature > American and Scandinavian
• Comparative literature > Scandinavian and American
• Old Norse literature > Appreciation > United States
• American literature > Scandinavian influences
• Mythology, Norse, in literature
• Vikings in literature
• Scandinavia > In literature

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 167-176) and index.

Contents

Ch. 1. Introduction -- Ch. 2. Emerson -- Ch. 3. Thoreau -- Ch. 4. Melville -- Ch. 5. Minor Key -- Ch. 6. Longfellow -- Ch. 7. The Women Writers -- Ch. 8. Summary and Conclusion.

ISBN

0838754120 (alk. paper)

LCCN

99015514

OCLC

ocm41272934

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries