Charting the early dissemination of Shakespeare in the Nordic countries in the 19th century, this opens up an area of global Shakespeare studies that has received little attention to date. With case studies exploring the earliest translations of Hamlet into Danish; the first translation of Macbeth and the differing translations of Hamlet into Swedish; adaptations into Finnish; Kierkegaard's re-working of King Lear, and the reception of the African-American actor Ira Aldridge's performances in Stockholm as Othello and Shylock, it will appeal to all those interested in the reception of Shakespeare and its relationship to the political and social conditions.
The volume intervenes in the current discussion of global Shakespeare and more recent concepts like 'rhizome', which challenge the notion of an Anglocentric model of 'centre' versus 'periphery'. It offers a new assessment of these notions, revealing how the dissemination of Shakespeare is determined by a series of local and frequently interlocking centres and peripheries, such as the Finnish relation to Russia or the Norwegian relation with Sweden, rather than a matter of influence from the English Cultural Sphere.

Nely Keinänen is a lecturer in English at the University of Helsinki, Finland, researching the early reception of Shakespeare in Finland. She is on the board of the Nordic Shakespeare Society (NorSS).
Per Sivefors is Associate Professor of English Literature at Linnaeus University, Sweden. He has published extensively on early modern literature and culture and is currently working on the early reception of Shakespeare in Scandinavia (1760 - 1820). He is Chair of the Nordic Shakespeare Society (NorSS).

Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
Nely Keinänen and Per Sivefors
1: The First Danish Production of Hamlet (1813): A Theatrical Representation of a National Crisis
Annelis Kuhlmann (Aarhus University, Denmark)
2: Geijer's Macbeth - Page, Stage and the Seeds of Time
Kiki Lindell (Lund University, Sweden) and Kent Hägglund (Stockholm University, Sweden)
3: Cold Maids and Dead Men: Gender in Translation and Transition in Hamlet
Cecilia Lindskog Whiteley (Uppsala University, Sweden)
4: The Poetics of Adaptation and Politics of Domestication: Macbeth and J. F. Lagervall's Ruunulinna
Jyrki Nummi, Eeva-Liisa Bastman and Erika Laamanen (all University of Helsinki, Finland)
5: Søren Kierkegaard's Adaptation Of King Lear
James Newlin (Case Western Reserve University, USA)
6: 'A blot on Swedish hospitality': Ira Aldridge's Visit to Stockholm in 1857
Per Sivefors (Linnaeus University, Sweden)
7: Shakespeare's Legacy and Aleksis Kivi: Rethinking Kivi's Drama Karkurit [The Fugitives]
Riitta Pohjola-Skarp (University of Tampere, Finland)
8: Anne Charlotte Leffler's Shakespeare: The Perils of Stardom and Everyday Life
Lynn R. Wilkinson (University of Texas, USA)
9: Knut Hamsun's Criticism of Shakespeare
Martin Humpál (Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic)
Afterword: Towards a Regional Methodology of Culture
Alexa Alice Joubin (George Washington University, USA)
Appendix: Nordic Shakespeare until 1900: A Timeline
Index