In 1993, Professor Bernd Henningsen wrote:

These few words perfectly summarise the discussion surrounding imaginations of the north and the Arctic: it is truly relative and dependent on the time and space specific narratives have been created in.

The present volume engages in the study on the cultural construction and representation of ‘the north’ – a key element in the understanding of narratives circulating in the ‘non-north’ about the ‘north’. But the editors have not focused on merely a central European and rather contemporary conception of the north (such as in Hecker-Stampehl & Kliemann-Geisinger, Reference Hecker-Stampehl and Kliemann-Geisinger2009), but in Part I, Ancient roots, have included chapters which present captivating insight into Jewish and ancient Greek lore and traces on how ‘the north’ is understood and embedded into the cultural construct of these ancient societies (see Varis’ and Votsis’ chapters, respectively). Part II, From the Middle Ages to the early modern period, focusses on races, such as pygmei and anthrophagi, that were believed to have been created in the ancient world. Simek shows how prevailing understandings on the existence of these races were adopted in the early Middle Ages by map makers and writers about the north, yet without, unsurprisingly, having any empirical ground for their existence. Simek's brief description of medieval maps of the world and Scandinavia, much more elaborated upon in, for example, Simek (Reference Simek and Kugler1991), and the reflection of this understanding of northern races and monsters indeed makes even contemporary common discourses of the north and its peoples, either as the antidote to medieval images or as reproducers, much better understandable. Barraclough, on the other hand, lays out how in Norse (Icelandic) society of the Middle Ages the somewhat realistic perception of Greenland had shifted to include the supernatural after Viking societal collapse on the island. Once again, we gain insight into geographical and environmental conditions charged with narratives and imagination. In fact, Viking voyages are at the core of Barraclough's monograph that her chapter is based on (Barraclough, Reference Barraclough2016). The Middle Ages are furthermore touched upon in Walter's chapter on the then contemporary understandings of witchcraft inspired by the north wind Septentrio and understandings of the female body. While being a short chapter, the reader starts to understand the disturbing logic of inquisition worldview. In spite of this, Kepler's Somnium paints a rather ‘good’ picture of a witch, located in Iceland, which, as Donecker shows, is rather a culmination of Middle Age perceptions on the supernatural north – most notably inspired by Olaus Magnus – than corresponding to Iceland-specific narratives.

With this chapter the book leaves the Middle Ages and enters Part III, The 19th century, the era of Enlightenment and Romanticism. Byrne enables the reader to understand the discursive link between Gaelic/Celtic peoples and northern peoples such as the Finns and the Sámi as applied in Great Britain. Moreover, McCorristine adds another dimension to the emerging modern scientific method by analysing the role of clairvoyance in the search for the lost Franklin mission, conducted by ‘young and naive’ women dealing with a geographical region contextualised with masculinity – an issue which adds wonderfully to Adriana Craciun's analysis of Arctic explorations (Craciun, Reference Craciun2016). Michaels shows how the travel account by Austrian travel writer Ida Pfeiffer was an important contribution to breaking with the stereotypical and supernatural connotations with Iceland of the mid-19th century. Her article in this book should be read in conjunction with Guđmundur Hálfdanarson's Iceland perceived: Nordic, European or a colonial other? (Hálfdanarson, Reference Hálfdanarson, Körber and Volquardsen2014), which looks at the post-colonial dimension of travel accounts such as Pfeiffer's. The north, it seems, had therefore left its supernatural ‘other’ realm by the 19th century. This, of course, is a purely Eurocentric, non-northern perspective. Habulinec shows how also within the north ‘otherness’ was created. By referencing the rich oral history of Greenlandic Inuit as recorded by Knud Rasmussen and Hinrich Rink it becomes clear that similar processes were prevalent in contemporary Inuit society and used narratives followed the same logic as in ancient Greek or Biblical myths. This, I dare to say, is a truly understudied phenomenon and serves as an inspiration for further comparative research.

In Part IV we enter Contemporary perspectives or, as the subtitle suggests, the Desire for a supernatural north. Walter, for instance, shows how during the Soviet period the ‘north’ remained a ‘blissfully cloudy realm of tantalizing possibility, a home for the literally exiled but incorrigibly exuberant artistic imagination’ (p. 215). This is furthermore elaborated upon in Cudmore's chapter on Phillip Pullman's The golden compass in which the 1996 book and its sequel Upon a time in the north are analysed as regards narratives of the supernatural as well as nature/environmentalism, unveiling differences in the way Pullman presents the north literally. Much to my delight, also subcultures are tackled in this engaging volume. The reader thus learns of the influence of northern mythology on the ‘Otherkin’ community, an esoteric movement not identifying itself as fully human (Johnston), as well as in extreme heavy metal subcultures (Leichsenring), an issue which I have also tackled in Polar Record (Sellheim, Reference Sellheim2016). The last chapter (Hill) discusses the emergence and role of shamanism in Arctic indigenous societies. It shows how the supernatural has played an integral part of the worldview and cultural expression of northern peoples. I wonder, however, if this chapter is best situated in Part IV as I personally miss the link to contemporary Arctic societies. After all, Hill refers to shamanistic practices and expressions in the past tense.

This is somewhat minor though. Because in conclusion, this book is not only diverse and engaging, it also sheds light on the normative role of ‘the north’ in time and space as well as within different cultural contexts. There are many issues the volume does not cover – how could it? – but it certainly inspires for more research in past and present understandings, as well as reflections of these understandings, of northernness and Arcticness (Kelman, forthcoming). I therefore applaud the editors for having compiled a captivating volume of northern research which I wholeheartedly recommend for scholars of Scandinavian and Arctic studies, literary studies or cultural studies in general. And of course, I encourage also others to read this book in order to better understand what ‘the north’ is (not)!.