Scandinavians : in search of the soul of the north / Robert Ferguson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ferguson, Robert, 1948- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Scandinavia--History.

Scandinavia.

History.

Scandinavia--Social conditions.

Social conditions.

Scandinavia--Politics and government.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

xxiii, 455 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Overlook Press, 2017.

Summary:

A journey of discovery though two millennia of Scandinavia's history, culture and society, "told with deep knowledge and an intoxicating passion" (BBC). -- Scandinavians is also a personal investigation, with award-winning author Robert Ferguson as the ideal companion as he explores wide-ranging topics such as the power and mystique of Scandinavian women, from the Valkyries to the Vikings; from Nora and Hedda to Garbo and Bergman. This digressive technique is familiar from the writings of W.G. Sebald, and in Ferguson's hands it is deployed with particular felicity, accessibility, and deftness, richly illuminating our understanding of modern Scandinavia, its society, politics, culture, and temperament.

Contents:

Prelude. A season in Hell: Copenhagen 1969

Stones

The conversion of the Icelanders

Amleth, Luther and the last priest: the Reformation in Scandinavia

The King of the past: Frederik VII of Denmark

The Vasa ship: Sweden's age of greatness

Abductions: the war between the Danes and Algerians

The short sweet rule of Johann Friedrich Struensee

Taking God at His word: Søren Kierkegaard and Olav Fiskvik

The loneliness of the long-distance explorer

Interlude: Ibsen's Ghosts

The emigrants

World War II: the Scandinavian experience

The power of Scandinavian women

Dagny Juel and the invention of melancholy

Malexander

Oslo 2016.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 431-443) and index.

ISBN:

9781468314823

1468314823

OCLC:

990188535