Nordic Exchanges: Transfers and Transactions (Robert Rix; Lis Møller) One of the best-known of romantic paintings was chosen as an emblem of this conference: Caspar David Friedrich’s The Sea of Ice (1823-4), depicting a frail wooden ship crushed by huge slabs of ice, piling up under a cold blue Northern sky. If this painting symbolizes the attraction the North had for European romantics, its very prominence in the canon also testifies to a critical perception that can be summarized in a few points: (1) Romanticism is rooted exclusively in the Bermuda Triangle of Germany, Britain and France, (2) the romanticisms of the Nordic countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland) are mainly derivative, (3) and their influence outside the Nordic region is negligible. The purpose of this workshop is to test – and perhaps contest – this hackneyed image. And whereas “romantic Orientalism” has received its fair share of critical interest, the Friedrich painting bespeaks a contemporary interest in the Northern themes and landscapes, which warrants attention. We welcome papers on individual Nordic romantics, but even more so on interaction, exchange, and cross-fertilization between Nordic and other romanticisms. Furthermore, the workshop wishes to explore the image of the North (Nordic landscapes, climate, culture, history, folklore, and mythology) in the romantic imagination. Topics for papers could also include travel reports – real or imaginary – focussed on the North or the Nordic countries.