1700-tal: Nordic Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies

Right and Wrong Ways of Knowing

2023-12-20T11:35:35+01:00

This article explores how the eighteenth-century ‘dictionary craze’ – the explosive proliferation of alphabetically organized reference works – can be understood as part of a wider conflict of learning. Drawing on a wide mix of sources, I show that dictionaries, more than any other factual genre of the time, challenged established conventions about what constituted right and wrong ways of reading, learning, and ultimately knowing, and that this was a crucial reason for both the controversy and success of the genre.

After an overview of early modern norms of learning, the article examines how eighteenth-century disagreements about factual dictionaries challenged, reproduced, and reconfigured older views. By encouraging readers to follow their own curiosity, read in whatever order they liked, form their own opinions, remember temporarily, forget, and return when needed, dictionaries deviated from established ideals of disciplined study and ‘digestive’ reading, which held that ‘true’ knowledge was deeply incorporated in the individual. The dictionary’s claim to be a ‘shortcut’ to learning also fueled discussions about the very meaning of ‘knowing’, and how much the road to learning could be shortened without missing the goal.

A French Parnassus for the Danes

2023-12-20T11:35:31+01:00

Benefitting from a taste for everything French in the Danish-Norwegian absolute monarchy, La Beaumelle circulated in Copenhagen news and ideas from the French Enlightenment in a handwritten journal which content has never been studied before. The ideas and rhetorical strategies of his journalistic input are analysed and contextualised in the Danish political agenda and in the larger frame of the circulation of semi-private news and the intellectual history of the Enlightenment. Brilliant and irreverent, the author discussed moderate and subversive ideas along with much gossip from Paris. This article is the first study of what was written in the Gazette and connects intellectual networks and the history of the press, by focusing on the relationship between French thinkers and the kingdom of Denmark-Norway.

Pigor i sämre hushåll

2023-12-20T11:35:53+01:00

The Swedish Servant Acts compulsed everyone without an occupation to take up service as a servant. However it is unclear to what extent this compulsion was actually enforced. Repeated complaints from the authorities give the impression that it was largely ignored. One suspicion was that people chose to live with relatives rather than taking service. A list compiled by the Stockholms authorities enables a quantification of mostly women who evaded service around 1755. The study shows that up to a fifth of all female servants were suspected of being live ins rather than employed as servants, and most of them problably earned their living in the informal sector of the urban economy. A comparison with tax registers reveals that these people were accounted for. In conclusion, while historical scholarship is dependent upon ample source material, this study suggests that a good part of the servant population was recorded in tax registers, but that the nature of their service might not have been properly accounted for, and that many servants provided for themselves on an extensive informal economy of the city which is difficult to quantify.

Holberg in Context

2023-12-20T11:39:11+01:00

A prolific and versatile writer, Ludvig Holberg has long been the subject of intense scholarly debate about the identity of his thought and the best way of interpreting his works. What, in particular, has muddied the waters is his use of multifarious textual techniques and conventions, including the use of a broad array of literary genres, a plurality of voices, and diverse literary, historical, and intellectual sources. Engaging, critically, with current contextualist scholarship, this article focuses on what intellectual history can bring to the study of Holberg. Hence, as the article aims to show, thinking in a particular way about the context of Holberg’s works, that is, in conjunction with the languages and personae that inhabit his writings, may help us to better understand the textual conventions and techniques that he employed in his writings, thereby illuminating his identity as a writer.

Designing ‘Swedishness’

2023-12-20T11:35:58+01:00

This article explores the early development of Swedish costume design during the reign of Gustav III (1771-1792). From the beginning of his rule, the Swedish king consciously and actively developed the local cultural scene, funded the Swedish Royal Opera and other institutions, as well as wrote and performed theatrical works himself. He also intervened in the scenography of pieces and was very interested in dress in general, using it often for his political aims. Theatre and dress were not only treated as aesthetic objects, but also as tools for creating a sense of Swedish national identity among the people.

The ‘Swedishness’ of costume design is thus primarily connected to the subjects represented in those initial plays which addressed Swedish themes: historical figures and people from different Swedish regions. On the other hand, both the designers and forms used to create this Swedish design were often imported and adapted from abroad, especially from France and Italy. Using a transnational perspective and material-oriented approach, this study examines certain strategies and milestones in Swedish costume making, highlighting international exchange, but also showing unique cases of adaptation to the local stage.

Jonas Thorup Thomsen, Danish Clergymen and their Book Collections: An investigation into Clerical Libraries, Book Distribution, and Knowledge Circulation in Denmark, c. 1685–1810 (Aarhus: Aarhus University, 2022). 272 s.

2023-06-30T12:39:24+02:00

Janne Palkisto, Säveltäjä-klarinetisti Bernhard Crusellin ammatillinen toiminta ja vuorovaikutus Ruotsissa 1795–1833 (Turku: Turun yliopisto, 2022). 83 pp.

2023-07-10T14:23:36+02:00

Are Bøe Pedersen, "En Knude, som ved Menneskelige Raisons og historiske Exempler ikke kand løses": Hebraisk mytologi og forsvar mot religionskritikk i Ludvig Holbergs Den jødiske Historie (1742) (Bergen: Universitetet i Bergen, 2022). 499 s.

2023-07-12T23:42:57+02:00

Agneta Helmius, Mode och hushåll. Om formandet av kön och media i frihetstidens svenska små- och veckoskrifter (Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensia, 2022). 237 s.

2023-06-30T12:45:20+02:00

Nanna Eva Nissen, Forensic Theology and the Evaluation of Blasphemy Offences: The Prosecution of Written Pacts with the Devil in Denmark-Norway between 1634 and 1754 (Köpenhamn: Det Teologiske Fakultet, 2022). 383 s.

2023-06-30T12:58:50+02:00

Alvar Blomgren, The Hurricane of Passion: Popular Politics and Emotion in Late Georgian England 1792-1812 (Stockholm: Stockholms universitet, 2022). 255 s.

2023-07-12T23:48:32+02:00

2023-07-13T01:07:29+02:00

Redaktionens förord

2023-07-13T01:11:26+02:00

Jón Kristinn Einarsson, Jón Steingrímsson og Skaftáreldar, ed. Már Jónsson, Smárit Sögufélags (Reykjavík: Sögufélag, 2022 ). 264 pp.

2023-07-12T23:52:54+02:00

Thomas Daltveit Slettebø, Ola Teige and Øystein Lydik Idsø Viken (eds.), Fredsårene: Norge i fred 1720–1807 (Oslo: Dreyers forlag, 2022). 439 s.

2023-07-12T23:50:35+02:00

Bo Lindberg, Disputation, dissertation, avhandling: historien om en genre (Stockholm: Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, 2022). 248 s.

2023-07-12T23:55:13+02:00

Rebecka Lennartsson, Ulla Winblad. Liv och legend (Stockholm: Stockholmia förlag, 2021). 158 s.

2023-06-30T12:49:24+02:00

Mia Skott, Tapetmakerskor. Självständiga yrkeskvinnor i 1700-talets Stockholm (Stockholm: Stockholmia förlag, 2022). 159 s.

2023-06-30T12:54:24+02:00

Mary Wollstonecraft, Brev från en resa i Sverige, Norge och Danmark. Translation, introduction and notes by Elisabeth Mansén (Lund: Ellerströms, 2022). 302 s.

2023-07-12T23:58:10+02:00

Hans Egede, Dagbog 1721–36. Bearbejdet til nudansk og med forord af Ane Martine Lønneker (Aarhus: Forlaget Atlanten, 2021). 454 s.

2023-07-13T00:00:10+02:00

Ludvig Holberg: Rettskunnskap (1751). Oversatt av Andreas Harald Aure (Oslo: Vidarforlaget, 2021). 463 s.

2023-07-13T00:02:22+02:00