The metaphor of the net has inspired literary studies for years as the importance of the web as a real life dispositif has kept increasing. These ten essays show the importance of networks to thought and culture even long before the invention of telecommunications. They present a range of possible applications of various network approaches from ancient Icelandic and courtly Scandinavian literature, via Uppsala romanticism, the Flemish movement, and french modernists, up to recent Norwegian poetics. Meanwhile, a critical stance at the theories' epistemic value also has its place in this volume.

Susanne Kramarz-Bein is a professor for Scandinavian Studies at the University of Münster. She teaches in old Norse Studies (Riddarasögur and Icelandic Family sagas) and modern Scandinavian literatures with special emphasis on Norwegian literature (e.g. Henrik Ibsen and Modern Breakthrough, Sigurd Hoel in relation with H.C. Branner). Birge Hilsmann, M.A., is a PhD student and former Assistant Lecturer at the Institute of Scandinavian Studies at Münster University.