Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark is a deeply personal travel narrative by the eighteenth-century British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. It covers a wide range of topics, from sociological reflections on Scandinavia and its peoples to philosophical questions regarding identity. Published by Wollstonecraft's career-long publisher, Joseph Johnson, it was the last work issued during her lifetime. Wollstonecraft undertook the tour of the three countries in order to retrieve a stolen treasure ship for her lover, Gilbert Imlay, believing that the journey would restore their strained relationship. However, over the course of the three-month trip, she realized that Imlay had no intention of renewing the relationship. The twenty-five letters which constitute the text, drawn from her journal and from missives she sent to Imlay, reflect her anger and melancholy over his repeated betrayals. Using the rhetoric of the sublime, Wollstonecraft explores the relationship between the self and society in the text. Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark is both a travel narrative and an autobiographical memoir, and was Wollstonecraft's most popular book in the 1790s—it sold well and was reviewed positively by most critics. Read the rest of this article: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_Written_in_Sweden%2C_Norway%2C_and_Denmark> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1521: Pope Leo X issued the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem, excommunicating Martin Luther from the Roman Catholic Church after Luther refused to retract 41 of his 95 theses. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Leo_X> 1833: With the arrival of three British naval ships at the Falkland Islands, the United Kingdom was able to re-assert sovereignty there. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Re-establishment_of_British_rule_on_the_Falkland_Islands> 1848: Joseph Jenkins Roberts began his term as the first President of Liberia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Jenkins_Roberts> 1957: The Hamilton Watch Company introduced the world's first electric watch. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_Watch_Company> 1959: As a result of the Alaska Statehood Act, the Alaska Territory became the 49th U.S. state, and the first outside of the 48 contiguous states. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: judder (v): To spasm; to shake violently <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/judder> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: Of the theme that I have declared to you, I will now that ye make in harmony together a Great Music. And since I have kindled you with the Flame Imperishable, ye shall show forth your powers in adorning this theme, each with his own thoughts and devices, if he will. But I will sit and hearken, and be glad that through you great beauty has been wakened into song. --J. R. R. Tolkien <http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien>