Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II The Non-romantic Interest In The Norse Saga " Karleken till skaldekonst i allmanhet, och faderneslands-kansla isynnerhet, hafva kommit mig att skrifva i meter, och att begagna den hos oss for litet kanda och varderade, hogst interessanta nordiska mythologien." Charlotta d'Albedyhll: Slutanmarkning to " Gefion." There was no enthusiasm among the Academicians for Old Norse themes but, on the other hand, it would be an injustice to accuse them of a constant and furious hostility. The old myths had already been treated in the French style by some Gustavians, notably by the king himself, Gustavus III., and by Leopold; so that at the beginning of the national movement Norse mythology was by no means unknown, even to the members of the Old School. And so, in 1810, when the field of Norse myths was being explored in Denmark, the Academic Journal for Litteraturen och Theatern not only tolerated such exploration but advocated a similar movement in Sweden. No. 193, for August 20, 1810, contains an announcement of Nyerup's Edda and gives the story of Suttung's mead. The Danes, the reviewer thinks, should be given credit for their interest in Old Norse history and myth, and Norse mythology ought not to be as unknown to the Swedes as it is, since it has already been used by "several German and Danish poets." The excuse seems to be that one does not like to learn Icelandic. Again, the recension of the first number of Iduna in the same Journal (numbers 195-98, 1811) contains an expressive regret: "The love for our antiquities and our history has cooled considerably among us (in Sweden) if it has not entirely died out." Later on, to be sure, when militant Gothism was thought to be alarming, the Academic attitude changed; but in the beginning of the decade 1810-1820 there was... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.