A movement called Scandinavism, also called Scandinavianism, arose in Scandinavia in the nineteenth century, and during the last 20 years, there has been much new research on the topic. Mainly in the subject of history, but also in literary studies, completely new aspects of Scandinavism have been brought to light and have made clear that the cultural part of the movement was a great success. It even affects Nordic society today, with active cooperation among the Nordic countries. But this new research has focused very little on the other part of Scandinavism, the work for a union between Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.

This dissertation investigates the cultural side of the very large movement that was Scandinavism. In Norway, Sweden, and Denmark Scandinavism fostered a great interest in the language and literature of the neighbouring countries. This interest emerged at the start of the nineteenth century, marking an about-turn after centuries of war. In six chapters the dissertation shows first how people at the start of the century studied the same kinds of Old Norse texts, which brought insight into shared roots and the fact that the languages had once been the same.

Later, in the period 1843–1850, Scandinavism took on a political orientation. This is the orientation that has hitherto been in focus, particularly in historical research. It was, however, a short-lived movement that finally died out in 1864. Cultural Scandinavism, on the other hand, was on a much greater scale and was to be significant for very many authors, as the dissertation shows. C. J. L. Almqvist, H. C. Andersen, Fredrika Bremer, and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson are examples of authors who related in different ways to Scandinavism. All three wrote texts expressing Scandinavistic ideas, and their literary texts, letters, and speeches are examined here. As a way to systematize the elements of Scandinavism, the term “markers of Scandinavism” is used. These are also found, finally, in Georg Brandes, who was highly significant from the 1880s onwards as a critic throughout Scandinavia, not just in Denmark.

The dissertation shows that Scandinavist ideas were instrumental in the spread of “the modern breakthrough” to the whole of Scandinavia. The sense of community that emerged helped to create a common “literary space”, to use an expression coined by Pascale Casanova, which the authors of the 1880s were able to exploit. The aims and ideas of cultural Scandinavism became generally accepted and are still significant.

Finally, it is observed that many institutions for cultural cooperation today use exactly the same arguments for collaboration as were used in the nineteenth century.