The Idea of North (Topographics) - Softcover

Davidson, Peter

3.61

155 ratings by Goodreads

9781861892300: The Idea of North (Topographics)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1861892306 ISBN 13: 9781861892300

Publisher: Reaktion Books, 2004

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Peter Davidson explores the topography of north as represented in images and literature, taking in Netherlandic winter paintings of the Renaissance, German Romantic landscapes, Scandinavian Biedermeyer and twentieth-century topographical painting and printmaking. The work of artists Andy Goldsworthy, Eric Ravilious and Ian Hamilton Finlay are examined, as well as the work of literary figures including W. H. Auden, Cecil Day-Lewis and John Buchan. He examines a bewildering diversity of mythologies and imaginings of north, including The Snow Queen; Scandinavian Sagas; ghost-stories; Moomintrolls, Arctic exploration; the fictitious snowy kingdoms of Zembla and Naboland; Nabokov's nostalgias; Baltic midsummer; rooms in winter light; compasses and star-stones; hoar-frost; ice and glass.

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Review:

"A truly stunning assessment of the concept of 'north' in literature, legend, history and the psyche of "Northern" people. Why do some places feel 'northern'? Peter Davidson writes with an incredible sense of place in the North-east of Scotland."--Aberdeen Evening Express
"An interesting meditation." -- Tom Shippey "Times Literary Supplement" (04/01/2005)

"The nearer he gets to the North of England and Scotland the more deeply felt his writing becomes. . . . Marvellously sensitive."--"London Review of Books"
"A truly stunning assessment of the concept of ''north'' in literature, legend, history and the psyche of "Northern" people. Why do some places feel ''northern''? Peter Davidson writes with an incredible sense of place in the North-east of Scotland."--"Aberdeen Evening Express"
"Davidson is as interesting writing about snow sculptures and 17th-century paintings of the Arctic as he is about Auden, and his reading of the imaginary land of Zembla in Nabokov''s "Pale Fire" as an enternal, symbolic north is highly evocative...a lovely book"--" The Guardian"
"The charm of the book is its exhaustiveness, zooming into a variety of touchstones to show how they''ve influenced global culture in sly, often surprising ways. . . . "The Idea of North" is an exhausting book, but in the best sort of way. Davidson tackles so many different ideas about north-ness, both sympathetic and contradictory, that the writing accrues meaning and value as it goes along. . . . Davidson''s north is an enormous challenging land: humbling, shifting, austere, empty, fragile, desolate, desolating, marginal, authentic--a place, as Davidson perfectly puts it, forever suffused with ''absolute, difficult beauty.''"--"Ruminator"
"Provocative. . . . Davidson''s evocative prose and sensitive analyses of an impressive range of sources heighten the reader''s appreciation of the rich complexity of humanity''s imagined Norths."--"Times Higher Education Supplement" --Max Jones"Times Higher Education Supplement" (07/14/2006)

"An interesting meditation."--"Times Literary Supplement"--Tom Shippey"Times Literary Supplement" (04/01/2005)

"Davidson''s style . . . achieves a lyrical elegance of phrase. . . . he achieves a marvel of descriptiveness that is moving as well as expressive of something irreducibly ''north'', yet universal."--"The Scotsman"--Tom Adair"The Scotsman" (02/26/2005)

"this delightful, original work could only spring from someone who nurtures within a a strong sense of what he writes . . . an esoteric but important gem; original treasure from the north . . . The spiritual equivalent of a large slice of chocolate cake: unexpected, satiating, fulfilling. Suddenly, those cold, high places don't seem so lonely after all."--Melanie Reid"The Glasgow Herald" (02/01/2005)

About the Author:

Peter Davidson is Fellow of Campion Hall, University of Oxford. He has taught at the universities of Aberdeen, Leiden and Warwick. He is the author of a book of essays about northern culture, Distance and Memory (2013), a collection of verse, The Palace of Oblivion (2008), and The Last of the Light: About Twilight (also from Reaktion).

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