The Ballad Revival in Romantic-Era Britain, Germany and Scandinavia

Explores the Romantic-era ballad revival in Britain, Germany and Scandinavia as a transnational phenomenon.

Engaging with research fields including studies of cultural transfer, reception, transtextuality and adaptation, Lis Møller charts the circulation of ideas and texts – popular ballads and literary works inspired by popular balladry – between three languages: English, German and Danish. By tracing such exchanges, she challenges the idea that the Romantic-era ballad revival represented an inward turn towards the roots of one’s national culture. As an alternative to the national approach, Møller proposes to view the ballad revival as a search for Northern European cultural entanglements. This book therefore contributes to the new trend in Romantic studies, which, moving beyond the mono-national approach, focuses on European Romanticism and explores the interaction of individual Romanticisms across national borders.