In Scandinavian Elements of “Finnegans Wake,” Dounia Bunis Christiani addresses herself to an enormous task: examining the significance of Scandinavian history, literature, and languages for the composition of James Joyce’s masterwork. Whereas critical studies of Joyce tend to fall into two categories—those exploring the philosophical grounding of his works and those providing close textual readings—the significance of Christiani’s work lies in her deep historical and cultural analysis.

DOUNIA BUNIS CHRISTIANI, born in 1913, taught English literature at Wisconsin State University—Eau Claire. She wrote on English and Scandinavian literature and translated Ibsen’s The Wild Duck into English.