The Cambridge History of European Romantic Literature

Examining Romanticism's pan-European circulation of people, ideas, and texts, this history re-analyses the period and Britain's place in it.

Patrick Vincent (Edited by)

9781108497060, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 November 2023

686 pages
23.5 x 15.5 x 4 cm, 1.24 kg

'… shows the growing interest of the academic world in highlighting relationships that are quite obvious between the various literatures but forgotten by the nationalism prevailing in so many school and university programs.' Lluís Quintana Trias, Bookstore School Blog

This wide-ranging new history of European Romantic Literature presents a pan-European phenomenon which transcended national borders and contributed to a new sense of European cultural identity across the continent. Conceived in the same spirit as Madame de Staël's cultural and political agenda at a time when her 'generous idea' of Europe is being challenged on all sides, the volume pays close attention to the period's circulation of people, ideas, and texts. It proposes to rethink the period comparatively, focusing on various forms of cultural mediation and transfer, and on productive tensions, synchronicities, and interactions within and across borders. Organized chronologically, its twenty chapters address over five hundred works, proposing a coherent historical narrative without completely erasing individual nations' specificities. By showcasing in particular the place of Britain within continental culture, the volume hopes to reactivate critical examinations of Romanticism from a historicised European perspective.

Introduction: inventing a European romanticism Patrick Vincent
Part I. Romantic Genealogies (1750–1790): 1. The discovery of the past Noah Heringman
2. Discourses of nature Kate Rigby
3. The romantic sublime Cian Duffy
4. Cultures of sensibility Enit Karafili Steiner
5. Gothic circulations Angela Wright
6. The crisis of enlightenment Simon Swift
Part II. Revolution to Restoration (1790–1815): 7. Transcendental revolutions Nicholas Halmi
8. Citizens of the world Maike Oergel
9. Romantic loss, emigration and exile Catriona Seth
10. Women writers' networks Gillian Dow
11. Romantic nationalisms Joep Leerssen
12. Shakespeare and romantic drama Frederick Burwick
13. Classics and romantics Diego Saglia
Part III. Restoration to Revolution (1815–1850): 14. The 'restoration' of restoration Paul Hamilton
15. Late romanticism and print culture Angela Esterhammer
16. Global romanticisms Evan Gottlieb
17. No longer at ease: the romantic novel in Europe Katie Trumpener
18. Literatures of the north Lis Möller
19. Russian empire and the territories of romanticism Luba Golburt
Acknowledgments.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]