Perspectives originating from inside and outside the Arctic, along with hybrid positions, are examined, with special attention being given to the textual genres, narratives and figures which they mobilize, together with to the close relationship between the Arctic as an unknown place and the literary imagination.
The different chapters address a wide geographical range of texts, providing a necessary supplement to most previous work in the field, and also address the wide variety of genres which flourish under the aegis of Arctic discourse, ranging from exploration accounts, travel-writing, political texts and journalism through diaries and historical documents to novels and novelizations, and including also other media, such as music and opera.
ANKA RYALL has taught English at the University of Tromsø, and published on gender and travel writing. Among her recent publications are a book on women’s appropriation of travel literature, a co-edited volume on Mary Wollstonecraft’s journey to Scandinavia and an article on the travel narratives of Ethel Tweedie.
JOHAN SCHIMANSKI is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature in the Department of Culture and Literature, University of Tromsø. He has published on Welsh literature, national identity and literature, postcolonialism, science fiction and Arctic discourses.
HENNING HOWLID WÆRP is Professor of Scandinavian literature at the University of Tromsø. He has published and edited books and articles on Norwegian literature and poetry, and also on the novelists Knut Hamsun and Cora Sandel.