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Willard Fiske
Friend and Benefactor of Iceland
Kristín Bragadóttir (Author), Patrick J. Stevens (Translated by)
9780935995220
Paperback / softback, published 15 December 2019
286 pages, 72 b&w halftones, 1 map - 72 Halftones, black and white - 1 Maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.454 kg
In the middle of the nineteenth century, the young American student Daniel Willard Fiske left college to embark on a sojourn in Denmark and Sweden that would eventually lead, in 1879, to a lengthy visit to Iceland. By then, Fiske had become Cornell University's first university librarian and professor of Northern European languages, and had established the foremost book collection in private hands in America on Iceland and the medieval Norse world. Kristín Bragadóttir explores in depth Fiske's fascination with Iceland and the Icelanders, with their language and literature, describing with admiration the solicitude this remarkable American intellectual, brilliant linguist, astute bibliophile, and enthusiastic chess advocate manifested for the remote island community as it fledged from a distant Danish dependency into a nation on the path of cultural and political self-determination.
Translator's Preface
Introduction
1. Forming the Idea
2. Maturing in Uppsala
3. Home (and Away Again)
4. Jennie
5. The Women in Willard's Life
6. Unforgotten Island to the North
7. Travel to Iceland Is Not for All
8. Arrival in Iceland
9. Terra Firma
10. Akureyri Sojourn
11. Amusement and Erudition, Blended
12. Reykjavík
13. Ancient Cultural Values
14. Showing Friends Respect
15. Circumnavigation
16. Education
17. Departure
18. Lasting Links
19. Devotion to Icelanders
20. Lifelong Correspondence
21. The Year with Jennie
22. The Will Case
23. Collecting Icelandic Imprints
24. From Strength to Strength
25. Icelandic Students Assist
26. State of the Libraries in Reykjavík
27. Creating Bibliography
28. Grímsey Fascination
29. The Charm of Chess
30. The Florence Decades
31. The Fiske Icelandic Collection
Notes
Bibliography
Name Index