In this volume, seventeen scholars from Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia present their research on the formation and transformation of national literary canons as a practice of nation-building in Central Europe and the Baltics.The articles focus on the shaping of national identities through literature and analyze the establishment of literary canons by means of language, the role of national poets, and similar topics. Case studies of so-called minor literatures reveal common tendencies in the structure of many national canons, as well as specific responses and creative...

Winner of the 2022 Nordic History Book Award Despite its failure as a political mobilizer, Scandinavism as a cultural movement would have a great impact on national consciousness-raising in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden by stressing common ethnolinguistic, mythological and historical roots. This cultural vision is traced in 'the Long 19th Century’, specifically in its interactions and overlaps with the various nationally specific manifestations of cultural nationalism. Through an in-depth analysis of an extensive corpus of cultural products – ranging from novels and poetry to public...