Rasmus Bjørn Anderson, Hugo Meltzl, and the Scandinavian New World
Rezumat
Abstract: The aim of this essay is to investigate the role Scandinavia and its scholarship network may play in the understanding of world literature as envisioned by Hugo Meltzl in Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum. To that effect, my analysis focuses on Rasmus Bjørn Anderson (1846-1936), a Norwegian-American member of the journal’s editorial board. Theoretically, this essay builds on Michael Werner and Bénédicte Zimmermann’s concept of “histoire croisée,” as well as Shu-mei Shih’s conceptualization of “technologies of recognition.” I dwell primarily on Anderson’s contributions in the area of Scandinavian studies, which focused on Norse mythology and literature, especially his most important works, America Not Discovered by Columbus and Norse Mythology or the Religion of Our Forefathers. They reveal Anderson’s framing of Scandinavian literature and culture, as well as his “anti-Romance” approach over and against the backdrop of late-nineteenth-century Norwegian immigration to the United States. In the context of Acta Comparationis, Anderson’s case points to the journal as a platform for achieving recognition in the word literary system of the time and to the system’s global yet selective network.
Keywords: Acta Comparationis, Rasmus Bjørn Anderson, Scandinavian studies, Norwegian-American identity, Norse mythology, Anti-Romance, histoire croisée, technologies of recognition
Acknowledgement: This work was funded by the EU’s NextGenerationEU instrument through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan of Romania—Pillar III-C9–18, through the project A Global History of Romanian Comparatism: A Case Study in Inter-Imperial Comparative Literature (1877–1944), PNRR-III-C9–2023-I8-CF 22/27.07.2023, contract no. 760276/26.03.2024.
Bibliografie
“Bibliographie.” Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum, no. 10 (1877): 215.
“Bibliographie.” Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum, no. 14 (1877): 295.
Andersen, Arlow William. The Immigrant Takes His Stand: The Norwegian-American Press and Public Affairs, 1847–1872. Northfield: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1953.
Anderson, Rasmus Bjørn. “A Scandinavian National Song. Our Land, our Land, our Native Land.” Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum, no. 36 (1878): 120–122.
Anderson, Rasmus Bjørn. America Not Discovered by Columbus. Illinois: S.C. Griggs & company, 1874.
Anderson, Rasmus Bjørn. Julegave: et udvalg af eventyr og fortällinger / udgivet af R.B. Andersen. Illinois: “Amerika’s” Forlag, 1872.
Anderson, Rasmus Bjørn. Life Story of Rasmus B. Anderson / Written by Himself, with the Assistance of Albert O. Barton. Madison, Wis., 1915
Anderson, Rasmus Bjørn. Norse Mythology: Or, the Religion of Our Forefathers, Containing All the Myths of the Eddas, Systematized and Interpreted with an Introduction, Vocabulary and Index. Illinois: S.C. Griggs and Company, 1875.
Anderson, Rasmus Bjørn. “Scadinavian National Song by Carl Pong”. Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum, no. 44 (1878): 67–68.
Anderson, Rasmus Bjørn. “Tegnér’s ‘Fridthofs Saga’ in America”. Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum, no. 21 (1878): 425–428.
Anderson, Rasmus Bjørn. “The Bridal Party on the Hardanger-Fjord by Andreas Munch”. Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum, no. 24 (1878): 489–492.
Anderson, Rasmus Bjørn. The First Chapter of Norwegian Immigration, (1821–1840). Its Causes and Results. With an Introduction on the Services Rendered by the Scandinavians to the World and to America. By Rasmus B. Anderson. Wisconsin: The author, 1896.
Anderson, Rasmus Bjørn. “The Kalewala”. Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum, no. 31 (1878): 9–12.
Anderson, Rasmus Bjørn. The Younger Edda: Also Called Snorre’s Edda, or the Prose Edda / with an Introduction, Notes, Vocabulary, and Index by Rasmus B. Anderson. Illinois: Scott, Foresman, 1879.
Anderson, Rasmus Bjørn. Viking Tales of the North. The Sagas of Thorstein, Viking’s Son, and Fridthjof the Bold. Tr. from the Icelandic by Rasmus B. Anderson and Jón Bjarnason. Also, Tegnér’s Fridthjfof’s Saga. Illinois: S.C. Griggs and company, 1877.
Anderson, Rasmus Bjørn. Mythologie scandinave: Légendes des eddas. Translated by Jules Leclercq. Paris: Ernst Leroux, 1886.
Bombara, Daniela. “‘Brume Nordiche’ Sullo Stretto. Le Radici Settentrionali Del Romanticismo Siciliano.” Italianistica Debreceniensis : A Kossuth Lajos Tudományegyetem Olasz Tanszéke Es Az Olasz Felvilágosodás És Romantika Kutatóközpont Évkönyve, no. 26 (2020): 28–46.
Butterfield, Consul Willshire. Literary and Biographical Sketch of Prof. Rasmus B. Anderson. Wisconsin: University Press Co, 1879.
Cannizzaro, Tommaso. Fiori d’oltralpe saggio di traduzioni poetiche. Messina: Tip. T. Cannizzaro, 1893.
Cannizzaro, Tommaso. Degli Scandinavi E Dellʼ Edda Antica. Messina: Tipografia D’Amico, 1908.
Cannizzaro, Tommaso. Rasmus B. Anderson: la letteratura nordica in America. Messina: Tipografia Rizzotti, 1908.
Casanova, Pascale. The World Republic of Letters. Translated by Malcolm DeBevoise. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004.
Lumholtz, Carl. Among Cannibals; an Account of Four Years’ Travels in Australia and of Camp Life with the Aborigines of Queensland. New York: C. Scribner’s sons, 1889.
Fassel, Horst. “‘Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum’: Prima revistă de literatură universală din lume.” Philologica Jassyensia 20, no. 2 (2014): 155–159.
Fulsås, Narve, and Tore Rem. Ibsen, Scandinavia and the Making of a World Drama. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
Haugen, Einar I. “A Critique and a Bibliography of the Writings of Rasmus B. Anderson.” The Wisconsin Magazine of History 20, no. 3 (1937): 255–269.
Hustvedt, Lloyd. Rasmus Bjørn Anderson: Pioneer Scholar. Northfield: Hustvedt, 1966.
Malory, Thomas, Sir. The Arthurian Tales: The Greatest of Romances Which Recount the Noble and Valorous Deeds of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round. London: Norrœna Society, 1905.
Meltzl, Hugo. “The Black Wodas”. Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum, no. 51 (1879): 11–15.
Meltzl, Hugo. “Vorläufige Aufgaben der Vergleichenden Litteratur. III. Der Dekaglottismus.” Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum, no. 24 (1878): 494–501.
Nicholls, Angus. “Three Translations from the Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum: ʻPreliminary Tasks of Comparative Literature, Part III: Decaglotism;ʼ ʻLaws of Comparative Literary Research;ʼ and ʻGoethe’s World Literature’.” Comparative Literature 76, no. 3 (2024): 285–293.
Paulson, Arthur C. “Bjørnson and the Norwegian-Americans, 1880–81.” Studies and Records (Norwegian-American Historical Association), no. 5 (1930): 84–109.
Rydberg, Viktor. Teutonic Mythology. London: S. Sonnenschein & co., 1889.
Shih, Shu-Mei. “Global Literature and the Technologies of Recognition.” PMLA 119, no. 1 (2004): 16–30.
Tomescu Baciu, Sanda. “Nordisches in der Zeitschrift ‘Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum.’ In Hugo Meltzl und die Anfänge der Komparatistik, edited by Horst Fassel, 97–114. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2005.
Werner, Michael and Bénédicte Zimmermann. “Beyond Comparison: Histoire Croisée and the Challenge of Reflexivity”. History and Theory: Studies in the Philosophy of History 45, no. 1 (2006): 30–50.
Øverland, Orm. Immigrant Minds, American Identities: Making the United States Home, 1870–1930. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000.
