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Nordic Orientalism

Paris and the Cosmopolitan Imagination 1800-1900

Nordic Orientalism explores the appropriation of Oriental imagery within Danish and Norwegian nineteenth-century nation-building. The project queries Edward Said’?s binary notion of Orientalism and posits a more complex model describing how European countries on the periphery ? Denmark and Norway ? imported Oriental imagery from France to position themselves, not against their colonial Other, but in relation to central European nations. Examining Nordic Orientalism across a century in the context of modernization, urbanization and democratization the study furthermore shows how the Romanticists? naive treatment of the Orient was challenged by increased contact with the "real" Orient.

255 pages | 6 1/2 x 9 1/2

Political Science: Comparative Politics


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Table of Contents

Foreword and Acknowledgements
Orientalism on the Periphery: An Introduction
Scandinavian Literary and Cultural Orientalism
The Theoretical Stakes
The Field in Scandinavia
National Literatures
Chapter Outlines
1. The Incorporation of Aladdin into the Image of Danish National Identity
Oehlenschläger’s Merry Mix of Copenhagen and the Orient
Aladdin’s Background and Cultural Resonance
The Urge to Expand: An Allegorical Reading
From Herder to Hegel: Shifting Perceptions of National History
Phantasia: Memory and Subjectivity
The Palace: Memory and History
From Orientalizing Copenhagen to Copenhagenizing the Orient
2. Aladdin and Tivoli: From a Reading to a Social Enactment of Danish Orientalism
The Imagined Shared Reading Experience of Aladdin in En Jode
Tivoli as an Oriental Nation-Building Force
China as a Source of Political Satire in Andersen’s Nattergalen
3. Staged Cultural and Literary Encounters with the “Real” Orient
Norwegian Reactions to Encounters with the Orient at the Paris Exposition
Goldschmidt’s Literary Response to the Paris Exposition
Andersen’s Response to Paris’ Ephemeral Spectacles
The Problematic Fourth Act in Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt’s Encounter with the “Real” Oriental Other
Peer Gynt’s Encounter with the Oriental Past
Reality and Fiction: Travel and Drama
The Off-Center Point of View
4. Paris-Envy: Scandinavian Fin-de-Siécle Literary Orientalism
Copenhagen-Paris-Orient: mental and Geographic Journeys in “Ekbátana”
Kristiania and Fandango: The Problem of Being In-Between
An Added Layer of Irony: Hamsun’s Importation of a French Decadent Trope
Parodic Orientalism: Hamsun in “Wonderland”
Conclusion
Bibliography
Abstract
Index of Names
Index of Works

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