[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-608031-105":59,"doc-detail-608031-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","romancing-the-dark-ages-the-viking-hero-in-sentimental-narrative","Romancing the Dark Ages - The Viking Hero in Sentimental Narrative","","Romancing the Dark Ages: The Viking Hero in Sentimental Narrative examines how late-20th-century popular fiction reshapes cultural images of the early Middle Ages, especially the Viking. It traces the shift from a Romantic-era model of the Germanic heroic “Noble Barbarian” toward a “Sensitive New Man” framed as an object of feminine erotic desire in “hot historical” romance. Sentimental narration is presented as a negotiation space where contemporary discourses of feminism and new masculinities converge.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/romancing-the-dark-ages-the-viking-hero-in-sentimental-narrative/608031/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/romancing-the-dark-ages-the-viking-hero-in-sentimental-narrative/608031.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"DoDO","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-01","2026-10-17",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What character shift does the paper analyze in Viking-themed popular fiction?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It examines how the Viking moves from being treated as a Germanic heroic figure (“Noble Barbarian”) toward a “Sensitive New Man,” linked to feminine erotic desire in “hot historical” romance.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the paper describe the role of sentimental narrative?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Sentimental narrative becomes a negotiation territory for contemporary discourses of feminism and new masculinities, rather than a neutral retelling of medieval themes.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Why are the Middle Ages portrayed in popular culture as “invented traditions”?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The paper argues that most perceptions of the Middle Ages rely less on historical evidence and more on “invented traditions,” shaped and perpetuated through popular genres.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},608031,1792403090,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},962093270745,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","Romancing the Dark Ages: The Viking Hero in Sentimental Narrative  \nMARÍA JOSÉ GÓMEZ CALDERÓN  \nUniversidad de Sevilla  \nAbstract: Among the cultural images of the Dark Ages one that has drawn much attention on the part of literature is that of the Viking. Conventionally accepted as the embodiment of Germanic racial heroism since the Romantic Period, the popularity of this character is attested in numerous poems as well as in historical and adventure novels. This paper explores how late 20th-century popular fiction takes this process of cultural appropriation a step further as the genre of the «hot historical» romance relocates the Norseman as object of feminine erotic desire. The archetypal Noble Barbarian is thus transformed into a peculiar Sensitive New Man, and sentimental narrative becomes a territory of negotiation for the contemporary discourses of feminism and the new masculinities.  \nKey words: popular literature – romance – medievalism – Viking –gender studies – new masculinities  \nResumen: Una de las imágenes culturales de la Edad Media temprana que ha recibido mayor atención por parte de la literatura es la del vikingo. Aceptado convencionalmente como la encarnación del heroísmo racial germánico desde el Romanticismo, la popularidad de este personaje ha quedado patente en multitud de poemas, así como en la novela histórica y de aventuras. Este trabajo explora cómo la ficción popular de fines del s.XX lleva este proceso de apropiación cultural un paso más allá en tanto que el género de la novela rosa de temahistórico redefine al vikingo como objeto de deseo erótico femenino. De este modo, el arquetipo del «noble bárbaro» se transforma en un peculiar representante del «nuevo varón sensible», y la narrativa sentimental se convierte en terreno de negociación para los discursos del feminismo y de las nuevas masculinidades contemporáneos.  \nPalabras clave: literatura popular – novela femenina – medievalismo – vikingo –estudios de género – nueva masculinidad.  \nThe Middle Ages have captivated the imagination of the subsequent ages as they provide a convenient mirror for other historical periods whose self  \nBoletín Millares Carlo, núm. 26. Centro Asociado UNED. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 2007.  \n288 María José Gómez Calderón  \ndefinitions have been built in contrast to the medieval. In Brian Stock’swords: «The Renaissance invented the Middle Ages in order to redefine itself; the Enlightenment perpetuated them in order to admire itself; and the Romantics revived them in order to escape from themselves. In their widest ramifications ‘the Middle Ages’ thus constitutes one of the most prevalent cultural myths of the modern world» (69). In fact, this fascination with the medieval past has been operative both in the traditions of high and low culture; within the sphere of the popular, the appropriation of the Middle Ages has turned out a most profitable device to sell not only cultural products, but also goods as disparate as beer or wooden flooring.  \nThe association with the medieval elicits connotations of authenticity and naturalness, conferring on the products the prestige of tradition even when the tradition invoked has been created ad hoc. Thus, most people’s perception of the Middle Ages is not based on historical evidence but on what Hobsbawm and Ranger termed as «invented traditions,» in this case perpetuated through the popular genres1. As in contemporary appropriations the stress falls on the legendary and the magical regardless of national borders, the medieval past of modern fiction departs significantly from the «myth of origins» central to the 18th-and 19th century nationalist vindication of the period. Thus, for popular audiences the Middle Ages is a narrative niche for fantasy where the historical and the invented –and sometimes the anachronistic and the unlikely– coexist. Régine Pernoud denounces this inaccurate, melting-pot character of the popular medieval in which the alluring and theevocative replace his","cbCairFdJDkwHUiA","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairFdJDkwHUiA","pdf",87692,11,"English","# Abstract\n## Key themes in popular medievalism\n## From Viking heroism to sentimental romance\n## Gender negotiation and new masculinities\n## Invented traditions of the Middle Ages\n## Medievalism in political propaganda","[{\"question\":\"What character shift does the paper analyze in Viking-themed popular fiction?\",\"answer\":\"It examines how the Viking moves from being treated as a Germanic heroic figure (“Noble Barbarian”) toward a “Sensitive New Man,” linked to feminine erotic desire in “hot historical” romance.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper describe the role of sentimental narrative?\",\"answer\":\"Sentimental narrative becomes a negotiation territory for contemporary discourses of feminism and new masculinities, rather than a neutral retelling of medieval themes.\"},{\"question\":\"Why are the Middle Ages portrayed in popular culture as “invented traditions”?\",\"answer\":\"The paper argues that most perceptions of the Middle Ages rely less on historical evidence and more on “invented traditions,” shaped and perpetuated through popular genres.\"}]","Romancing the Dark Ages - The Viking Hero in Sentimental Narrative | PDF",1792210965,28]