The Vikings and the Victorians: Inventing the Old North in Nineteenth-Century Britain (Modern History) [Paperback]

Andrew Wawn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 18, 2002 | Series: Modern History

This is the first book-length treatment of the Victorians' fascination with the old north. It explores the ways in which the terms 'Viking' and 'Viking Age', both unknown in 1800, were invented, explored and popularised during the nineteenth century. The material examined - published and unpublished - includes novels, poems, plays, lectures, reviews, secondary school textbooks, saga-stead travelogues, private correspondence, art and music, as well as dictionaries, grammars and scholarly editions of eddas and sagas. In the cast of characters Sir Walter Scott, William Morris, Edward Elgar and Rudyard Kipling appear alongside long-forgotten amateur enthusiasts from Lerwick to the Isle of Wight. We follow the pursuit of Viking-related archaeology, dialectology, folklore, philology, runology and mythology. We see the old north used to legitimise many concepts and causes - from buccaneering mercantilism and imperial expansion to jury trial and women's rights. In drawing this wide range of materials together, Andrew Wawn presents a comprehensive and colourful account of the construction and translation of the Viking Age in Queen Victoria's Britain.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Fascinating and impressively scholarly ... a remarkable achievement. --Times Literary Supplement

Delightful, erudite... With immense knowledge and a sense of humor, Wawn has brought a world of great importance brilliantly to life. --Choice

About the Author

ANDREW WAWN is Professor of Anglo-Icelandic Studies at the University of Leeds.

Product Details

• Paperback: 434 pages
• Publisher: D.S.Brewer (April 18, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0859916448
• ISBN-13: 978-0859916448
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #217,693 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Movements & Periods > Victorian
  • #47 in Books > History > Europe > Scandinavia

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