The American Discovery of the Norse: An Episode in Nineteenth-century American Literature

Front Cover
Bucknell University Press, 1999 - 184 pages
"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)." "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.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 

Contents

Introduction
13
Emerson
33
Thoreau
47
Melville
61
Minor Key
77
Longfellow
94
The Women Writers
112
Summary and Conclusion
127
Notes
145
Bibliography
167
Index
177
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (1999)

Erik Ingvar Thurin is a tenured professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Bibliographic information