Romantic Imagery Research Articles

‘Is Childhood Then so All-Divine?’: Representations of Childhood in the Poetry of Anne Brontë

Despite the increasing criticism of her traditional critical and cultural reputation as the “third Brontë” in recent years, the underestimation of Anne Brontë’s philosophical and political engagement remains tenacious. This is especially relevant when it comes to scholarly work on her poetry, where biographical and/or religious critical frameworks dominate. By contrast, this article is interested in Brontë’s poetic intervention in Victorian debates surrounding political and aesthetic conceptions of the child and childhood. Brontë simultaneously deploys and subverts traditionally Romantic imagery, interrogating this mode most explicitly in later poems such as ‘Memory’, ‘Dreams’ and ‘Z-’s Dream’. In these mature pieces, Brontë undercuts the more conventional presentation of such topics in her earlier poems with a self-reflexive meditation on the authenticity of nostalgic visions. Therefore, Brontë’s engagement with childhood becomes more vexed over time, mirroring the more realist representation of childhood in her novels. However, Brontë’s poetic work also reveals a deeper and more conflicted identification with the Romantic aesthetic of childhood than one might imagine the writer of Agnes Grey (1847) could possess, providing access to a more complete picture of Brontë’s position on these essential questions of innocence, nostalgia and childhood.

Romanticism Reflections in the Poetry of Mahsati Ganjavi

The poetry of Mahsati Ganjavi, a Persian poet of the 6th century, has unique features based on the principles of Romanticism. Therefore, the ground is prepared to investigate his collected poems based on the components of Romanticism. This study aims to analyze and describe the collected poems of Mahsati Ganjavi using documentary and descriptive methods, and to answer the question of how much the components of Romanticism are reflected in his poetry. The results of this analysis show that many characteristics of Romanticism, such as the return to nature, attention to human nature, escape and travel, individuality and uniqueness, freedom, non-conformity to ethics, emotion and sentiment, romantic melancholy, love, illness, imagination, romantic imagery, the pole of figurative language, and the magic of words are present in the poetry of Mahsati Ganjavi, making it one of the romantic works of Persian literature.

John Singer's Comedic Drama and Western Culture

The writing of the West in Irish drama began in the Irish Renaissance in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and continues to this day. During the Irish Renaissance, in order to resist British colonial rule, writers endowed the western frontier region of Ireland with romantic imagery and mythic qualities, seeing it as a cultural symbol embodying nationhood, poetic idyll and Irishness. The West of Ireland fits perfectly with the writers' construction of Irish culture during this period in terms of its colonial history, economic environment, sense of national identity, language and culture, and religious beliefs. Thus, the Irish West became not only a symbol of Irish identity, but also a unique ideological field for the revitalisation of the Irish nation.

Nietzsche's Dawn: Philosophy, Ethics, and the Passion of Knowledge

Nietzsche's <i>Dawn:</i> Philosophy, Ethics, and the Passion of Knowledge

Shadows and Light of the Fairy-Tale World: Romantic Imagery and Romantic Topos in the Works of Evgeny Schwartz

This article examines the artistic specifi city of the images and motifs of the works of Evgeny Lvovich Schwartz (1896–1958), in whose dramaturgical and prose fairy tales the infl uence of the romantic literary tradition is traced. Turning to the works of Andersen and Perrault, amongst others, Schwartz transformed not only the original plots, but also the very fi gurative poetics of their works. A hypothesis is advanced on the infl uence on these poetics of the motifs and images of E. T. A. Hoffmann and German Romanticism in general. In part, such an infl uence became possible since the literary author’s fairy tale itself was formed largely thanks to German romanticism. However, it is also necessary to take into account the close creative interaction of Schwartz with the artistic association of the “Serapion brothers.” Special attention is paid to the poetics of urban topos in the fairy tales “Doll City”, “Adventures of Gogenstaufen”, and “Shadow”, where the romantic tradition inherent in such authors as Andersen, Hoffman, and Odoevsky is traced. Using the historical poetics method, the comparative historical method, and comparative analysis in the works of Schwartz, the principle of romantic duality is revealed: the interaction of shadow and light, the motif of illusion, and the style of phantasmagoria. The motif of vampirism in the literal and allegorical sense is also separately touched upon, with reference to the peculiarities of this motif in the poetics of Romanticism.

Romanticized Abusive Behavior by Media Narrative Analysis on Portrayal of Intimate Partner Violence Romanticism in Korean Drama

Intimate relationships are often depicted in terms of a beautiful idealism, especially in the mass media. However, the evidence shows a vast number of women while in such a relationship have been subjected to physical, emotional, and/or sexual violence by their partner. Media plays an important part in shaping and reflecting social life, resulting in audience consumption of romanticized abusive behaviour. Its audiovisual content can perpetuate the point of view that some violence is normal – even romantic. Such a point of view can be found in Korean dramas, which have been popular with its Indonesian audience for some 20 years and do not show any signs of a decline in popularity. This study aims to reveal a narration of intimate partner violence portrayal as romance in the Korean drama The Heirs (2013). A qualitative method is used drawing on Propp's Seven Characters and Greimas' Actantial narrative analysis model. The research results show how The Heirs project romantic imagery masking abusive traits by establishing the male main character as a subject who forces a relationship without accepting rejection. Moreover, this study found the romanticization of abuse was amplified by depicting the female protagonist as an object expressing her objection to giving male characters the thrill of the chase. The findings in this research is consistent with the concept of romanticized media, particularly in portraying the romanticization of intimate partner violence.

Romance Scams: Romantic Imagery and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation.

Love has an enormous effect on mental health. One does not need an actual romantic relationship to be in love. Indeed, romantic love can be built upon without frequent or real-life encounters, such as with a stranger from a matching website. With the advancement of the Internet and the influence of coronavirus disease, it is believed that these distant romantic relationships and related romance scams are burgeoning. Often, the victims of scams keep emotionally attached to the scammer even after the lie is revealed, which is hypothesized to be attributed to the aberrantly exaggerated romantic imagery of the victims. It is observed that many victims suffer from symptoms similar to a post-traumatic stress disorder, and some even consider suicide. However, there is scant literature on this topic. In this article, it is further postulated that the aberrant romantic imagery might be associated with impulsive acts such as suicide once the ideal but fake romantic relationship is dissolved. Thereafter, it is further speculated that manipulation of the visual network, possibly by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), might be a promising treatment.

Belarus as a small historical homeland in the works of Polish poets of 1918–1939 (based on the poetry of K. Vyazhinsky and S. Balinsky)

The article is devoted to the place and role of Belarus as the small historical homeland in the works of the Polish poets KazimirVyazynski and Stanislaw Balinski (1918–1939). The axiological coordinates, ideological and creative priorities of the lyrical hero are revealed. The forms and levels of the theme of the small historical homeland artistically embodied in the poetry of the studied authors such as chronotope, realities, images-symbols, precedent names, landscape, and artistic language have been characterized. The works by K. Vyazhinsky and S. Balinsky are analyzed through the prism of the literary and folkloremythological traditions and intercultural dialogue. The specifics of the artistic depiction of Belarus and the Belarusians in the poetry of K. Vyazhinsky and S. Balinsky such as the influence of the vicinity of the Belarusian-Polish border, the connection of history with modernity, folklore component, mythological discourse, realistic landscape, romantic imagery, etc. are described.

Autobiographical senses in piano miniatures by M. Glinka

The purpose of the article is to consider the song-romance area of ​​pianism, according to the proposed classification of piano works by M. Glinka, through the prism of autobiographical character, as the semantic dominant of the composer's piano style. The methodology consists in the application of the method of cultural commentary developed in the works of S. Tishko, also in co-authorship with S. Mamaev and G. Kukol. The specified methodological approach is used as an analytical commentary on a musical text and is implemented using a combination of biographical information and meanings of the work in the context of evolutionary processes and constant features of the composer's style. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the consideration of the piano field of composer's creativity as a single text, directly and indirectly connected by numerous intersections both with the events of Glinka's creative biography and with romantic cultural meanings; in the formation of an idea of ​​the typology of the composer's piano works and the creation of an appropriate classification; in the study of the song-romance sphere of Glinka's piano style through the prism of autobiographical character and thus revealing a whole spectrum of romantic senses of his pianism that were not previously found in musicology. Conclusions. The comprehension of Glinka's piano heritage as a whole allows us to single out the sphere of song-romance lyrics of the composer's piano instrumentalism. An analytical commentary on a musical text, which is realized with the help of a combination of biographical information and the semantic-figurativeness of works in the context of evolutionary processes and constant features of the composer's style, makes it possible to reveal the ways of forming a hidden programmatic and its artistic meaning, as well as to reveal the composer's attraction to the use of words as a factor of meaning formation, to note the importance of autobiographical themes and romantic imagery.

Neo-romanticism features of Alexander Nezhigayʼs creativeness (on the example of compositions for wind instruments)

The purpose of this scientific article is concentrated by author in revealing the most characteristic style traits concerning neo-romanticism handwriting of composer Alexander Nezhigay, which are represented in compositions by master for wind academic instruments. The row of methods for this scientific process is based on operating by series of theoretic and empirical ways of the investigation, a namely analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, interviewing as well as a method observation of scientific object, which is used by author into process for studying and generalization of experience concerning introduction of wind compositions by A. Nezhigay into different sphere of wind academic musically performing art (pedagogy, competion, concert, culturally education). Scientific newness of the article is conditioned by absent appealing of researchers to studying of A. Nezhigay’s creative heritage for wind instruments in the light of style peculiarity of composer’s handwriting. The novelty of article is also revealed by affirmation as research material the series composition by A. Nezhigay for wind instruments, a namely „Inspiration” for clarinet solo, „Scherzo” for oboe and piano, „Lullaby” for clarinet and piano, cycle „Introduction and toccata” for clarinet and piano, which were not in the center of problematically style scientifically investigative attention of scholars. Conclusions. The neo-romanticism traits of A. Nezhigay’s creativeness is discovered on the example of compositions by master for wind academic instruments. Among them, we accent romantic imagery, which is dominant for idea-artistic content of composition; melodic variation type of representation themes, what finds the manifestation into technique of variation repetition; using traditional artistically expressive opportunities of wind academic instrumentation (timbre and dynamic pallets, articulatory performing arsenal); accentuation of deeply individual, intimal condition of person – romantic individual-lyric.

Audiosfery lochów, poetyki krajobrazu. Ślady estetyk romantyzmu w grach cRPG

The aim of this text is to discern and analyze aesthetic tropes in selected fantasy cRPG games in the areas of visual arts and music. The analysis is con­ducted in the context of American romanticism, especially Hudson River School of painting, and musical works belonging to the dungeon synth genre. Through the enumeration and close reading of the elements pertaining both gameplay and digital landscapes, it is argued that the specific type of romantic imagery and its philosophical underpinnings may have influenced the recurring themes in cRPG games, including character development, avatar’s agency and player’s projected disposition towards the game world.

Situating Claim-making: Land and Adivasi Assertion in Jharkhand

Adivasi assertion of distinction based in the communities’ relationship with land and their surrounding environment has been the subject of much debate within academic writing. Critiquing romantic and essentialising images of adivasi societies, recent literature on adivasi politics, increasingly read within the frame of a politics of indigeneity, has raised questions regarding the nature of mobilisation around such romantic imagery. In this article, I suggest the need to reframe the question we ask of movements that make seemingly romantic claims, by asking how and why such claims take the shape that they do. In asking this question, the article argues for a reading of political claims made within the movement as historically contingent and rooted in the dynamic of the conflict that allows for its emergence. Understanding them as such allows for a renewed understanding of seemingly romantic claims, which instead point to the material and historical complex within which the struggle takes place.

Западно-восточные поэтические сочинения первой трети XIX в.: от «Дивана» Гёте до «сонета-газели» Мицкевича — Топчи-Баши

The article is concerned with reciprocity between Western and Eastern literatures of the 19th century, when Orientalist motives began to take hold in European writings. Goethe, in his “West-Östlicher Divan” (1819), attributed this interest to the everlasting excellence and value, which the Eastern masterpieces hold for the West. However, as it is clear nowadays, the ‘West-Eastern’ compositions cannot be seen as truthfully retaining the spirit of the Eastern classics, which was based on a different system of meanings and values. On the other hand, it became clear that the Eastern reception of these European works in the 19th century could not be true to the Western original, either, since even most progressive Eastern literatures of the time kept to artistic principles and system of genres of the Late Middle Ages. Against this historical and critical background, the article investigates the outcome of one venture — the emergence of a Persian translation of Adam Mickiewicz’s poem, commissioned by himself for his “Sonnets” (1826). Dzafar Topczi-Baszy adjusted the sonnet for an Eastern audience. Having presented his translation as a sample of the medieval genre of tadhkira (which has to contain both biographical and anthological features), Topczi- Baszy supplied the Persian version of the poem with facts about Mickiewicz; he cast the poem into a Persian poetic form — ghazal; he replaced the elements of Romantic imagery with the Eastern ones.

Remaking the Body Politic Anew through Mob and Gang King Mob Echo and Up Against the Wall Motherfucker (1968-1970)

The aim is to analyse how the British, radical avant-garde collective King Mob (KM) and the American Up Against the Wall Motherfucker (UAWMF) developed an idea of the body rooted in the Gothic and Romantic imagery of the monster and the mob that emphasised the revolutionary potential of ugliness. The body bridged aesthetics and politics, co-extensive with organisational principles that confronted society at large. On the one hand, KM viewed the ugliness of the mob as a physical force whose imagery was strong enough to destabilise the State, while on the other, UAWMF understood the hostility of society towards the body of the hippie as the locus point of a new identity and discourse for it.

Remaking the Body Politic Anew through Mob and Gang King Mob Echo and Up Against the Wall Motherfucker (1968-1970)

The aim is to analyse how the British, radical avant-garde collective King Mob (KM) and the American Up Against the Wall Motherfucker (UAWMF) developed an idea of the body rooted in the Gothic and Romantic imagery of the monster and the mob that emphasised the revolutionary potential of ugliness. The body bridged aesthetics and politics, co-extensive with organisational principles that confronted society at large. On the one hand, KM viewed the ugliness of the mob as a physical force whose imagery was strong enough to destabilise the State, while on the other, UAWMF understood the hostility of society towards the body of the hippie as the locus point of a new identity and discourse for it.

Redefining Idiomatic Writing for the Pedal Harp

Sounds of shimmering glissandi and resonant arpeggios combine with romantic and angelic imagery to form a stereotype of the modern pedal harp as an instrument capable of a relatively narrow band of expression. Similarly, its fundamentally diatonic design gives rise to issues with chromatic music that its pedal system addresses without fully negating. Taking pitch and timbre as means through which to reconsider the instrument, this paper presents an approach that reflects and celebrates the inherent properties of the harp whilst redefining what idiomatic writing might be. A reappraisal of the instrument’s sonic qualities contrasts typical sounds with alternative approaches to timbre. The pitch limitations of the harp inform a new method for localised and structural pitch organisation that is rooted in the pedal mechanism of the instrument. These new modalities and alternative timbres are illustrated with a range of compositional examples throughout.

Fragmenting soviet mythologies: romantic imagery and musical films in Ukraine

Fragmenting Soviet mythologies romantic imagery and musical films in UkraineFrom 1957 a big debate about romanticism was relaunched in the USSR, within which the issues of individuality, romantic feelings or relations between personal and social (or the state) were discussed. At the same time, in 1957, a huge television studio was built on the far Western margins of the USSR, which aimed at connecting the remote territories with the heart of the Soviet Union. Ten years after television arrived in Western Ukraine, from 1968 to 1971, Lviv Television Studio in cooperation with other Soviet Ukrainian studios, produced several musical films, which combined Carpathian highland landscapes with current sounds of the local Estrada. In the context of Soviet romanticism, they resembled media fairy tales and their plots intended to fragment previous tropes of Stalinist musicals.

The Languages of Scandinavia: Seven Sisters of the North by Ruth H. Sanders

 Reviews e Languages of Scandinavia: Seven Sisters of the North. By R H. S. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. .  pp. £.. ISBN ––––. Ruth H. Sanders is Professor Emerita of German Studies at Miami University, Ohio, where her recent outputs have focused on the popularization of language-learning, and language history. Her latest book takes a similarly didactic approach to the family history of German’s northern neighbours, the languages of Scandinavia. e history and structure of the Scandinavian languages have not wanted for academic coverage over the years. Weighty tomes such as Einar Haugen’s seminal  text e Scandinavian Languages (Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard University Press) and Oskar Bandle et al.’s edited volumes, e Nordic Languages: An International Handbook of the History of the North Germanic Languages,  vols (Berlin: de Gruyter, , ), provide detailed coverage of diachronic and genetic developments in the fields of morphology, syntax, and phonology. Yet these are highly specialized works, which for all their academic rigour have limited general appeal. ere is also a wealth of reference material covering almost every eventuality of grammar and usage, from the everyday to the obscure, such as the , third edition of Philip Holmes and Ian Hinchliffe’s Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar (London: Routledge; st edn ). But this too is lacking, for obvious reasons, in the kind of historical and cultural context that might help the wider public to understand how the given languages have developed their current shapes and interrelationships. For readers with a working knowledge of the Scandinavian languages, there are numerous volumes which, collectively at least, provide answers to these questions. For those limited to English, however, there is a glaring gap in the market for an easily accessible overview. At the time of writing, Lars Vikør’s e Nordic Languages: eir Status and Interrelations (Oslo: Novus, ) comes closest, but with almost twenty years having passed since the release of its third and most recent edition, the time is right for an update. At first glance, the volume under review looks like a promising candidate. Sanders’s stated aim is to narrate, ‘primarily for the non-specialist reader, highlights of the shared history from the earliest times’ of the languages of Scandinavia (p. ). Her narrative is openly pitched at the preconceptions and perceptions of a North American audience, but with an appeal broadened by the liberal use of emotive and engaging metaphors and Romantic imagery. Continuing in this cautiously populist furrow, she further limits the focus to ‘crucial intersections, sometimes amounting rather to collisions’ (p. ) between the seven languages of her study. is is a wise move, which frees her from any implied obligation to replicate the structures of more technical, field-specific works. Indeed, Sanders is careful to explain that there is to be no ‘comprehensive, or even chronological account, or typology of each language’ (p. ). It is also reasonable enough, in such a short volume, to avoid treatment of national literatures, which would realistically demand dozens of additional pages. Somewhat less encouragingly, the paring back does not stop there. By MLR, .,   limiting coverage of relevant historical events to ‘brief sketches’ and by deferring responsibility for ‘informative, up-to-date, and expert discussion of [. . .] further aspects of language [to] other specialized books’ (p. ), she may leave the reader wondering what, exactly, she does intend to address. e answer is a surprisingly broad sweep of contextualizing episodes for linguistic development in ‘Scandinavia’, from the prehistoric environment of the North in Chapter , via the Black Death in Chapter , through the Sámi people and language in Chapter , to the obligatory consideration of the continued existence of the languages of Scandinavia in the Epilogue. With only  pages devoted to the main body of text, not all of these issues have been explored in the same detail. e present reviewer would like to have read more about the transformative impact of Old Norse on Old English, for example, to have more than three short sentences on the linguistic consequences of the extended period of Danish influence on Norwegian referred to disparagingly by Norwegian historians as the ‘-Year Night’, or the single page devoted to the long-term challenges facing the languages of Scandinavia today...

Punishment and Penitential Practices in Medieval German Writing by Sarah Bowden Annette Volfing

 Reviews decades-old data does not help here (e.g. pp. , , , ). While the inevitable misrepresentations are compounded by factual errors, there are not enough of these to be too off-putting. e linguistic issues are more niggling. No clear rationale is offered for the selection of historical forms of names, for example. Sanders’s provision of cross-language tables of comparative examples is commendable, but when illustrating Icelandic and Faroese, does it really make sense to use passages of Bible editions from different centuries ( and : p. ) or to compare relatively contemporary registers of Norwegian with English from the deliberately archaic King James Bible of  (p. )? To summarize, this short book is packed full of information, much of which is relevant, well presented, and entertaining. e ‘intersections’ chosen to illustrate the interplay and cross-fertilization of (some of) the languages of the Nordic countries are broadly representative of the topic as a whole. And their presentation, using relatable, family-based metaphors and Romantic imagery, will no doubt enhance their appeal to the intended audience. e book is not without its issues. To the lay reader, very few of these, beyond the lack of explanatory detail and up-to-the minute statistics, will be apparent. From an academic perspective, however, even if intended for consumption in general or non-advanced studies, it must reluctantly be considered an opportunity missed. U  E A M Punishment and Penitential Practices in Medieval German Writing. Ed. by S B and A V. (King’s College London Medieval Studies, ) London:Boydell&Brewer. . pp. £. ISBN ––––. at the medieval period was one of torture, dungeons, hanging, drawing, quartering , and burning at the stake is a popular view of our past. e scholarly version of this foundational myth of modernity is Michel Foucault’s Surveiller et punir: naissance de la prison (), which argues that by overcoming this pre-modern era of violence and replacing it with state-controlled discipline, the modern legal system and more peaceful society was born. As with all grand narratives, its success is based on the fact that it is not only flattering to our modern age and memorable, but also that despite its huge simplifications and generalizations, it captures a lot of truth. is is at least the impression that comes out of this collection on punishment and penitence in medieval German writing, edited by Sarah Bowden and Annette Volfing on the basis of a conference at King’s College London in . e Middle Ages does seem to be ‘a deeply penitential period’, as Bowden writes in her Introduction (p. ), however much nuancing this needs, and a time in which punishment was a ‘phenomenon deeply embedded in everyday life’, as Jamie Page puts it (p. ). e collection takes the innovative and eye-opening approach of discussing legal punishment and Christian penitential practices together. Religiously motivated self-inflicted harm, Bowden rightly points out, has much in common with legal MLR, .,   or social punishment, as both aim at absolving humans of wrongdoing through physical and psychological pain. More precisely, this book focuses on written, predominantly literary descriptions of punishment and penitence in German in the twelh to sixteenth centuries, rather than on actual practices, on law or theology, or on a broader context beyond German-speaking lands. is means that the volume provides a good complement to existing studies that focus on legal practices or on visual representations. Bowden’s Introduction elegantly summarizes the state of research and the rationale for the volume along such lines. e ten chapters together give a sense of the surprisingly wide range of contexts in which punishment and penitential practices are discussed in late medieval German literature. Henrike Manuwald shows that the Middle High German term for revenge, râche, in its literary uses, especially in Rudolf of Ems’s Alexander romance, is much less clear-cut and encompasses controlled punishment by the king rather than just referring to the personal tit-for-tat violence oen assumed, thus further undermining the narrative of linear development from a society of personal revenge to one of state-controlled punishment. e significant gendered aspects of punishment are investigated in Wolfram’s Parzival by Annette Volfing as...

The Languages of Scandinavia: Seven Sisters of the North. By Ruth H. Sanders. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 2017. 211 pp. £23.40. ISBN 978-0-226-49389-3

 Reviews e Languages of Scandinavia: Seven Sisters of the North. By R H. S. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. .  pp. £.. ISBN ––––. Ruth H. Sanders is Professor Emerita of German Studies at Miami University, Ohio, where her recent outputs have focused on the popularization of language-learning, and language history. Her latest book takes a similarly didactic approach to the family history of German’s northern neighbours, the languages of Scandinavia. e history and structure of the Scandinavian languages have not wanted for academic coverage over the years. Weighty tomes such as Einar Haugen’s seminal  text e Scandinavian Languages (Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard University Press) and Oskar Bandle et al.’s edited volumes, e Nordic Languages: An International Handbook of the History of the North Germanic Languages,  vols (Berlin: de Gruyter, , ), provide detailed coverage of diachronic and genetic developments in the fields of morphology, syntax, and phonology. Yet these are highly specialized works, which for all their academic rigour have limited general appeal. ere is also a wealth of reference material covering almost every eventuality of grammar and usage, from the everyday to the obscure, such as the , third edition of Philip Holmes and Ian Hinchliffe’s Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar (London: Routledge; st edn ). But this too is lacking, for obvious reasons, in the kind of historical and cultural context that might help the wider public to understand how the given languages have developed their current shapes and interrelationships. For readers with a working knowledge of the Scandinavian languages, there are numerous volumes which, collectively at least, provide answers to these questions. For those limited to English, however, there is a glaring gap in the market for an easily accessible overview. At the time of writing, Lars Vikør’s e Nordic Languages: eir Status and Interrelations (Oslo: Novus, ) comes closest, but with almost twenty years having passed since the release of its third and most recent edition, the time is right for an update. At first glance, the volume under review looks like a promising candidate. Sanders’s stated aim is to narrate, ‘primarily for the non-specialist reader, highlights of the shared history from the earliest times’ of the languages of Scandinavia (p. ). Her narrative is openly pitched at the preconceptions and perceptions of a North American audience, but with an appeal broadened by the liberal use of emotive and engaging metaphors and Romantic imagery. Continuing in this cautiously populist furrow, she further limits the focus to ‘crucial intersections, sometimes amounting rather to collisions’ (p. ) between the seven languages of her study. is is a wise move, which frees her from any implied obligation to replicate the structures of more technical, field-specific works. Indeed, Sanders is careful to explain that there is to be no ‘comprehensive, or even chronological account, or typology of each language’ (p. ). It is also reasonable enough, in such a short volume, to avoid treatment of national literatures, which would realistically demand dozens of additional pages. Somewhat less encouragingly, the paring back does not stop there. By MLR, .,   limiting coverage of relevant historical events to ‘brief sketches’ and by deferring responsibility for ‘informative, up-to-date, and expert discussion of [. . .] further aspects of language [to] other specialized books’ (p. ), she may leave the reader wondering what, exactly, she does intend to address. e answer is a surprisingly broad sweep of contextualizing episodes for linguistic development in ‘Scandinavia’, from the prehistoric environment of the North in Chapter , via the Black Death in Chapter , through the Sámi people and language in Chapter , to the obligatory consideration of the continued existence of the languages of Scandinavia in the Epilogue. With only  pages devoted to the main body of text, not all of these issues have been explored in the same detail. e present reviewer would like to have read more about the transformative impact of Old Norse on Old English, for example, to have more than three short sentences on the linguistic consequences of the extended period of Danish influence on Norwegian referred to disparagingly by Norwegian historians as the ‘-Year Night’, or the single page devoted to the long-term challenges facing the languages of Scandinavia today...