Katie Ritson – författare

Global seawater levels are rising and the low-lying coasts of the North Sea basin are amongst the most vulnerable in Europe. In our current moment of environmental crisis, the North Sea coasts are literary arenas in which the challenges and concerns of the Anthropocene are being played out. This book shows how the fragile landscapes around the North Sea have served as bellwethers for environmental concern both now and in the recent past. It looks at literary sources drawn from the countries around the North Sea (Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and England) from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, taking them out of their established national and cultural contexts and reframing them in the light of human concern with fast-changing and hazardous environments. The six chapters serve as literary case studies that highlight memories of flood disaster and recovery, attempts to engineer the landscape into submission, perceptions of the landscape as both local and global, and the imagination of the future of our planet. This approach, which combines environmental history and ecocriticism, shows the importance of cultural artefacts in understandings of, and responses to, environmental change, and advocates for the importance of literary studies in the environmental humanities.This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of the Environmental Humanities, including Eco-criticism and Environmental History, as well as anyone studying literature from the Germanic philologies.

The first collection to address the role of the oceanic in literary texts and traditions from across the Nordic region, this book explores applications of ecocriticism, postcolonial theory, new materialism, and gender studies at a time when interest in marine ecosystems and their vulnerabilities to anthropogenic climate change is generating new theoretical insights and interest across the humanities.The Nordic countries with their long coastlines and archipelagic geographies have long histories of seafaring and mariculture. This book simultaneously introduces Nordic literatures about the sea to international scholars with an interest in the oceanic; and blue humanities to scholars working within Scandinavian/Nordic Studies. Its historical sweep incorporates the work of Nordic writers of particular significance for European and world literature, such as Henrik Ibsen and Tove Jansson; it also explores texts known chiefly within the Northern countries, including contemporary literature engaging with the sea; and historical texts, such as the Icelandic sagas and Early Modern seafaring guides. The book takes an innovative geographical orientation, grouping chapters to correspond to the various pelagic ecosystems that surround the Scandinavian peninsula and connect it to the rest of the globe.The combination of canonical and lesser-known texts with key theoretical approaches makes the volume ideal for teaching. With its broad historical and theoretical scope, The Sea in Nordic Literature is a valuable resource for scholars and students in blue humanities, Scandinavian and Nordic studies, and comparative literature.

The first collection to address the role of the oceanic in literary texts and traditions from across the Nordic region, this book explores applications of ecocriticism, postcolonial theory, new materialism, and gender studies at a time when interest in marine ecosystems and their vulnerabilities to anthropogenic climate change is generating new theoretical insights and interest across the humanities.The Nordic countries with their long coastlines and archipelagic geographies have long histories of seafaring and mariculture. This book simultaneously introduces Nordic literatures about the sea to international scholars with an interest in the oceanic; and blue humanities to scholars working within Scandinavian/Nordic Studies. Its historical sweep incorporates the work of Nordic writers of particular significance for European and world literature, such as Henrik Ibsen and Tove Jansson; it also explores texts known chiefly within the Northern countries, including contemporary literature engaging with the sea; and historical texts, such as the Icelandic sagas and Early Modern seafaring guides. The book takes an innovative geographical orientation, grouping chapters to correspond to the various pelagic ecosystems that surround the Scandinavian peninsula and connect it to the rest of the globe.The combination of canonical and lesser-known texts with key theoretical approaches makes the volume ideal for teaching. With its broad historical and theoretical scope, The Sea in Nordic Literature is a valuable resource for scholars and students in blue humanities, Scandinavian and Nordic studies, and comparative literature.