Abstract Anthropologists and folklorists have already done the spade work regarding the topic of ‘Martenehe’ (marriage of an ordinary man with a female fairy) within the field of global fairy tales. Probing this issue further by extending our gaze toward literary texts from the high and late Middle Ages, particularly in Anglo‐Norman England, Brittany, Wales, and neighboring territories, we discover quickly that the theme was of considerable importance and occupied deeply medieval imagination and fantasy, and this, in a way, until today, such as in filmic iterations. This study, based on literary comparisons, reveals the extent to which fear of the foreign woman, sexual attraction to the fairy, interest in building a dynasty with all means available, and curiosity about otherness at large combined to create a whole series of relevant fictional documents from the twelfth through the sixteenth century where ‘Martenehe’ assumes center position.

Abstract This article examines Borges' “The Library of Babel” (1941) and “The Aleph” (1945) as literary constructions that radically reconfigure the concept of infinity—not as a metaphysical abstraction, but as a finite, combinatorial structure whose effects are epistemologically and aesthetically infinite. Drawing from mathematics, philosophy, and poetics, the article argues that Borges' stories function as conceptual laboratories, simulating infinity through recursive formal constraints. In “The Library of Babel,” Borges constructs an apparently infinite universe using a strictly finite set of characters and structural rules, producing a combinatorial totality that overwhelms cognition through redundancy rather than expansion. In contrast, “The Aleph” collapses infinity into a point of simultaneity, dramatizing the impossibility of representing totality within temporal and linguistic constraints. Engaging with theories from Georg Cantor, David Hilbert, and David Deutsch, the article explores how Borges' fictions operationalize the infinite within the limits of human perception and representation. Literature, in Borges' vision, does not merely reflect infinity but enacts it, revealing a poetics of recursion, saturation, and structural paradox. In this light, Borges' work emerges as both an aesthetic and cognitive model of infinity, wherein fiction becomes a mode of thinking that renders the ungraspable momentarily thinkable.

Abstract This article zooms in on the subtitle of De Quincey's 1821 Confessions of an English Opium‐Eater, “Being an Extract from the Life of a Scholar,” and examines the inter‐disciplinary and cultural complexities of De Quincey's use of the very word, “scholar.” We argue that De Quincey consciously engages in a negotiation of Romantic‐era scholarly identity. On the one hand, he continues conventional scholarship by embellishing Confessions with classical references and rhetoric. On the other hand, he exploits the medical circumstances as well as the Brunonian and Blackwoodian models of medical discourse to undertake a kind of scientific scholarship that reciprocates with the scientific culture of gentleman‐scholar in the early nineteenth century. De Quincey's other scientific discussions with polyhistoric coverage shows his awareness of the scholar's changing role and connotation in a science‐predominated era. De Quincey's scholarly persona is thus Janus‐faced, looking both forward to the new gentleman‐scholar prospect, and backward to the repertoires of traditional scholarship. Such duality is emblematic of Romantic authors' anxiety to redefine classical learning and scientific thought so as to fuse them together in a pre‐Two Cultures moment where literature and science were not yet divided.

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ZusammenfassungDas wissenschaftliche Feld der Leseforschung ist ebenso komplex wie segmentiert und spiegelt die Vielfalt an Lesehandlungen und die Vielschichtigkeit des Leseprozesses wider. Aufgrund der Fülle an disziplinenspezifischen Forschungsansätzen und Untersuchungsgegenständen kann kaum von einer einheitlichen Leseforschung ausgegangen werden. Eine Zusammenführung von Erkenntnissen und ein gemeinsamer Diskurs werden bereits durch eine fehlende einheitliche Begrifflichkeit erschwert und es mangelt an einer theoretischen Modellierung des Begriffs „Lesen“, der eine Integration verschiedener disziplinärer Ansätze und Forschungsergebnisse ermöglicht. Das hier präsentierte Modell ist das Resultat der internationalen Zusammenarbeit von Leseforscher*innen im Rahmen des DFG‐Netzwerks „Forschungsfeld Lesen – Lesen als Totalphänomen“ und versucht die Komplexität des Forschungsfelds zu berücksichtigen, ohne die methodischen, theoretischen und praktischen Spezifika einzelner Disziplinen zu vernachlässigen. Damit wird ein Rahmen vorgelegt, der die Untersuchung der Zusammenhänge zwischen Lesesubjekt, Leseobjekt und Lesesituation, ihre Voraussetzungen und Nach‐wirkungen sowie diverse Teilaspekte des Leseprozesses beim Lesen aller Arten von schriftbasierten Texten und zu unterschiedlichen Zwecken oder Anlässen ermöglicht.

Abstract From the 1860s to the turn of the century, Norwegian literature experienced an extraordinary rise, from international obscurity to “world literature.” The expansion was spearheaded by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Henrik Ibsen. Bjørnson and Ibsen contributed to introduce a new form of state support and public recognition of literature in the 1860s: “writers' salaries,” awarded by the parliament to authors of proven literary merit. In 1867, a rift emerged between them on another matter of recognition: royal orders. The republican Bjørnson wanted a boycott, Ibsen not at all. He claimed that they would be invaluable in promoting his position in Norway, a “democratic” society devoid of aristocratic signs of honor, but they also contributed to identify him with the conservatives. Ibsen's quest for orders petered out by the 1880s, when a literary field emerged in Scandinavia. Ibsen reinvented himself as the master of bourgeois drama and was among the most celebrated European writers by the turn of the century. When the Nobel Prize was introduced, however, Bjørnson was the first Norwegian to receive it. Choosing Bjørnson and avoiding Ibsen contributed to the sidelining of the Nobel from the most important contributions to literary renewal in the early twentieth century.

Abstract The article discusses the complex relationship between publishers and literary prizes in terms of production, marketing, and the value of literary prizes. The main argument is that publishers are instrumental not only in the creation process of literary fiction receiving prizes but also in using the values adhered to awards and nominations for marketing, acquisition, and creating their publishing brand. Awarded prizes are turned into a commodity on the book market, and they can provide publishers and publishing houses with valuable cultural and literary capital. The article draws on theories and perspectives from the sociology of literature and publishing studies, as well as a broad set of research on literary prizes. It is designed as a study within the sociology of literature that uses the practices and material realities of the publishing business as evidence to discuss literary prizes. The material consists of a variety of paratexts, publishers' interviews, and industry data to understand present‐day literary culture, literary value, and the different functions of labor in the book market.

Abstract This article advances two arguments about Marston's use and appropriation of history in The Wonder of Women, or, The Tragedie of Sophonisba. First, it argues that Marston transforms Sophonisba from a problematic femme fatale into a virtuous woman whose constancy in the face of adversity contrasts sharply with the political realities of the play. She is opposed both to the Machiavellianism of Carthage and Syphax's tyranny, and throughout the play she advocates political honesty, loyalty and patriotism. In extolling these virtues, Marston makes the Carthaginian heroine a moral exemplar for others to imitate and learn from. Second, Sophonisba is deeply concerned with theatre's role in making, remembering and interpreting history. This is expressed in Massinissa's adornment of Sophonisba's corpse at the end of the play, which leads to an on‐stage negotiation of her historical significance, and the heroine's acts of self‐historicisation. By this term I refer to a rhetorical strategy that Sophonisba uses throughout the play in order to reflect on the nature of history and her own place in it. Analysing this particular rhetorical strategy together with Marston's appropriation of the historical sources will allow for a reconsideration of Sophonisba as a historical and metahistorical play.