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Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books
Iceland Imagined: Nature, Culture, and Storytelling in the North Atlantic
Iceland, Greenland, Northern Norway, and the Faroe Islands lie on the edges of Western Europe, in an area long portrayed by travelers as remote and exotic - its nature harsh, its people reclusive. Since the middle of the eighteenth century, however, this marginalized region has gradually become part of modern Europe, a transformation that is narrated in Karen Oslund’s Iceland Imagined .
This cultural and environmental history sweeps across the dramatic North Atlantic landscape, exploring its unusual geography, saga narratives, language, culture, and politics, and analyzing its emergence as a distinctive and symbolic part of Europe. The earliest visions of a wild frontier, filled with dangerous and unpredictable inhabitants, eventually gave way to images of beautiful, well-managed lands, inhabited by simple but virtuous people living close to nature.
This transformation was accomplished by state-sponsored natural histories of Iceland which explained that the monsters described in medieval and Renaissance travel accounts did not really exist, and by artists who painted the Icelandic landscapes to reflect their fertile and regulated qualities. Literary scholars and linguists who came to Iceland and Greenland in the nineteenth century related the stories and the languages of the “wild North” to those of their home countries.
This cultural and environmental history sweeps across the dramatic North Atlantic landscape, exploring its unusual geography, saga narratives, language, culture, and politics, and analyzing its emergence as a distinctive and symbolic part of Europe. The earliest visions of a wild frontier, filled with dangerous and unpredictable inhabitants, eventually gave way to images of beautiful, well-managed lands, inhabited by simple but virtuous people living close to nature.
This transformation was accomplished by state-sponsored natural histories of Iceland which explained that the monsters described in medieval and Renaissance travel accounts did not really exist, and by artists who painted the Icelandic landscapes to reflect their fertile and regulated qualities. Literary scholars and linguists who came to Iceland and Greenland in the nineteenth century related the stories and the languages of the “wild North” to those of their home countries.
- GenresHistoryNonfictionTravel
280 pages, Paperback
First published May 6, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 1, 2018
The North Atlantic – Close to Europe or a Remote Wilderness?
In Iceland Imagined: Nature, Culture, and Storytelling in the North Atlantic Karen Oslund writes about the cultural and environmental history in the North Atlantic, and how this remote landscape has been perceived through local and foreign perspectives.
She provides a geographical and historical outline of the North Atlantic from a European perspective and describes shifts of imaginations between an exotic, wild outpost and a place close to Europe. Starting with how European travellers from the 18th century on shaped the perception of Iceland, she develops a dense history of identities and the people and events that shaped them. She focuses on natural disaster, diseases, the Danish state, politics, and influential figures in art and science. One of the first approaches to understand and describe Iceland was the systematic classification of the Icelandic flora and fauna. There were two main groups shaping these developments, on the one hand the natural historians, with a scientific motivation, and on the other hand, the Danish state, with the motivation to find ways for improvement, especially in an economic sense. Furthermore, throughout the whole book, the political aspects play an important role in her analysis. Oslund then expands the horizon by including Greenland and the Faroe Islands to her analysis. Within this geographic space, Oslund discusses the importance of tools and technology, as well as the role of language and religion in the North Atlantic. She links these topics to the development of identity and concludes, that over time, the perception of the North Atlantic shifts back and forth between exotic and close to Europe. In the Epilogue, she illustrates two recent topics with the developed background knowledge.
Karen Oslund wrote an academic book, full of information about the North Atlantic. Unfortunately, the title only mentions Iceland, although Greenland and the Faroe Islands are equally important in her argument. The topics range from the natural to the cultural, including landscape, flora and fauna, technology, culture, language, and identity. Thus, the reader can easily get lost in the abundance of information. By covering all these aspects, the different chapters contain repetitive elements, especially in the political paragraphs. This, and the density of her writing, makes it a demanding work. Although it is an extensive book, it would be useful to add other perspectives to the Eurocentric view of her analysis, especially in the chapter about Greenland. Nevertheless, it is an intriguing book, that provides extensive knowledge about an area with extraordinary cultural diversity and a unique nature.
In Iceland Imagined: Nature, Culture, and Storytelling in the North Atlantic Karen Oslund writes about the cultural and environmental history in the North Atlantic, and how this remote landscape has been perceived through local and foreign perspectives.
She provides a geographical and historical outline of the North Atlantic from a European perspective and describes shifts of imaginations between an exotic, wild outpost and a place close to Europe. Starting with how European travellers from the 18th century on shaped the perception of Iceland, she develops a dense history of identities and the people and events that shaped them. She focuses on natural disaster, diseases, the Danish state, politics, and influential figures in art and science. One of the first approaches to understand and describe Iceland was the systematic classification of the Icelandic flora and fauna. There were two main groups shaping these developments, on the one hand the natural historians, with a scientific motivation, and on the other hand, the Danish state, with the motivation to find ways for improvement, especially in an economic sense. Furthermore, throughout the whole book, the political aspects play an important role in her analysis. Oslund then expands the horizon by including Greenland and the Faroe Islands to her analysis. Within this geographic space, Oslund discusses the importance of tools and technology, as well as the role of language and religion in the North Atlantic. She links these topics to the development of identity and concludes, that over time, the perception of the North Atlantic shifts back and forth between exotic and close to Europe. In the Epilogue, she illustrates two recent topics with the developed background knowledge.
Karen Oslund wrote an academic book, full of information about the North Atlantic. Unfortunately, the title only mentions Iceland, although Greenland and the Faroe Islands are equally important in her argument. The topics range from the natural to the cultural, including landscape, flora and fauna, technology, culture, language, and identity. Thus, the reader can easily get lost in the abundance of information. By covering all these aspects, the different chapters contain repetitive elements, especially in the political paragraphs. This, and the density of her writing, makes it a demanding work. Although it is an extensive book, it would be useful to add other perspectives to the Eurocentric view of her analysis, especially in the chapter about Greenland. Nevertheless, it is an intriguing book, that provides extensive knowledge about an area with extraordinary cultural diversity and a unique nature.
June 11, 2019
This is a great introduction into the formation of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe islands. It covers the politics, history and culture and the challenges these countries have gone through and how they came to be what they are now. The text itself is academic and kind of dry but if all you're interested in is learning a bit about what happened it's still a good read.
November 27, 2017
This was more academic than I realized I was getting into, but it was still accessible and interesting. It also dealt with Greenland and the Faeroe Islands, so there was all sorts of interesting information about how these places were perceived and interpreted by other Europeans.
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August 1, 2013Iceland Imagined: Nature, Culture, and Storytelling in the North Atlantic, by Karen Oslund, Narrated by Cynthia Wallace, Produced by University Audio Press, Downloaded from audible.com.
The publisher’s note is very thorough and explains this book as well, or better, than I can.
Iceland, Greenland, Northern Norway, and the Faroe Islands lie on the edges of Western Europe, in an area long portrayed by travelers as remote and exotic
- its nature harsh, its people reclusive. Since the middle of the 18th century, however, this marginalized region has gradually become part of modern Europe,
a transformation that is narrated in Karen Oslund's Iceland Imagined. This cultural and environmental history sweeps across the dramatic North Atlantic
landscape, exploring its unusual geography, saga narratives, language, culture, and politics, and analyzing its emergence as a distinctive and symbolic
part of Europe. The earliest visions of a wild frontier, filled with dangerous and unpredictable inhabitants, eventually gave way to images of beautiful,
well-managed lands, inhabited by simple but virtuous people living close to nature. This transformation was accomplished by state-sponsored natural histories
of Iceland which explained that the monsters described in medieval and Renaissance travel accounts did not really exist, and by artists who painted the
Icelandic landscapes to reflect their fertile and regulated qualities. Literary scholars and linguists who came to Iceland and Greenland in the 19th century
related the stories and the languages of the "wild North" to those of their home countries. Karen Oslund is assistant professor of world history at Towson
University in Maryland. The book is published by University of Washington Press."The great contribution of Iceland Imagined is to help us understand the
mental geographies that over the past quarter millennium have come to define the North Atlantic - and that teach us more than we might think about the
rest of the world." (from the Foreword by William Cronon)
The publisher’s note is very thorough and explains this book as well, or better, than I can.
Iceland, Greenland, Northern Norway, and the Faroe Islands lie on the edges of Western Europe, in an area long portrayed by travelers as remote and exotic
- its nature harsh, its people reclusive. Since the middle of the 18th century, however, this marginalized region has gradually become part of modern Europe,
a transformation that is narrated in Karen Oslund's Iceland Imagined. This cultural and environmental history sweeps across the dramatic North Atlantic
landscape, exploring its unusual geography, saga narratives, language, culture, and politics, and analyzing its emergence as a distinctive and symbolic
part of Europe. The earliest visions of a wild frontier, filled with dangerous and unpredictable inhabitants, eventually gave way to images of beautiful,
well-managed lands, inhabited by simple but virtuous people living close to nature. This transformation was accomplished by state-sponsored natural histories
of Iceland which explained that the monsters described in medieval and Renaissance travel accounts did not really exist, and by artists who painted the
Icelandic landscapes to reflect their fertile and regulated qualities. Literary scholars and linguists who came to Iceland and Greenland in the 19th century
related the stories and the languages of the "wild North" to those of their home countries. Karen Oslund is assistant professor of world history at Towson
University in Maryland. The book is published by University of Washington Press."The great contribution of Iceland Imagined is to help us understand the
mental geographies that over the past quarter millennium have come to define the North Atlantic - and that teach us more than we might think about the
rest of the world." (from the Foreword by William Cronon)
May 19, 2016
Unusual and interesting approach. It isn't all about Iceland, despite the title: substantial chapters on Greenland and the Faroes, with quite a lot of Norwegian and Danish cultural history thrown in. Covers a lot of different aspects - history, language, literature, geography, economics, and in particular travel to Iceland and other North Atlantic countries, and how they are perceived. She brings the story up to date with the whaling and genetic controversies. Interesting illustrations too. Have a few quibbles with the way the lines are justified, which leads to some weird line breaks (strug/gle), and there are one or two places in which sentences or phrases read oddly, perhaps due to electronic processes, but otherwise this is great, and an interesting look at the subject from a fresh angle.
December 16, 2013
Very interesting book, and very useful for my research about media portrayals and perceptions about the Faroe Islands. I just wish the title had made it more obvious that the book is not only about Iceland, but also the Faroes and Greenland. The book is academic in tone, but still has its moments of pleasurable reading and description. But I read it mostly for the insightful historical and sociological perspective of how the North Atlantic has been described, understood, imagined, and promoted across time and what it represents.
March 8, 2014
Very well-written book that covers a large range of history, culture, and important issues within the North Atlantic with a focus on Iceland & Greenland. It is also beautifully designed - striking cover and contemporary type layout. A great read for anyone interested in the North Atlantic.
November 10, 2013
Well researched, but I found the writing to be extremely dry and repetitive.
April 3, 2017
The author makes interesting points about culture, language, history, and perceptions, which easily apply to nations other than Iceland. In, fact, in the book itself, Greenland and the Faroe Islands receive significant coverage, despite its narrower title. The discussions of indigeneous language and practices illustrate similar historical and political situations in Hawaii and other Pacific islands, and I imagine the same can be said for more cultures and regions. It's especially unfortunate, therefore, that the excellent research and ideas are rendered nearly unreadable by the academic and needlessly impenetrable writing style. Despite my high level of interest (and academic background) in the subjects, I found it difficult to wade through the entire book. It would benefit mightily from good editing.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews