The Theory of the Sublime from Longinus to Kant

The first in-depth treatment of the major theories of the sublime from Longinus to Kant.

Robert Doran (Author)

9781107499157, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 February 2017

328 pages
23 x 15.3 x 1.8 cm, 0.5 kg

'The Theory of the Sublime from Longinus to Kant certainly breaks new ground by covering the origins of the sublime and showing how they can be traced through to the height of the discussions of the concept in the eighteenth century. I would single out this book for praise for its scholarly attention to neglected writers on the sublime, such as Longinus, Dennis, and Boileau, as well as for its new insight into Kant's thought. It deserves to be read widely and by anyone interested in both historical and contemporary debates on the sublime.' Emily Brady, Comparative Literature

In this book, Robert Doran offers the first in-depth treatment of the major theories of the sublime, from the ancient Greek treatise On the Sublime (attributed to 'Longinus') and its reception in early modern literary theory to the philosophical accounts of Burke and Kant. Doran explains how and why the sublime became a key concept of modern thought and shows how the various theories of sublimity are united by a common structure - the paradoxical experience of being at once overwhelmed and exalted - and a common concern: the preservation of a notion of transcendence in the face of the secularization of modern culture. Combining intellectual history with literary theory and philosophical analysis, his book provides a new, searching and multilayered account of a concept that continues to stimulate thought about our responses to art, nature and human events.

Introduction
Part I. Longinus' Theory of Sublimity: 1. Defining the Longinian sublime
2. Longinus' five sources sublimity
3. Longinus on sublimity in nature and culture
Part II. Sublimity and Modernity: 4. Boileau: the birth of a concept
5. Dennis: terror and religion
6. Burke: sublime individualism
Part III. The Sublimity of the Mind: Kant: 7. The Kantian sublime in 1764: 'Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime'
8. The sublime in the 'Critique of Practical Reason'
9. The sublime in the 'Critique of the Power of Judgment'
10. Judging nature as a magnitude: the Mathematically Sublime
11. Judging nature as a power: the Dynamically Sublime
12. Sublimity and culture in Kant.

Subject Areas: Media studies [JFD], Philosophy: aesthetics [HPN], History of Western philosophy [HPC], Philosophy [HP], Literary studies: general [DSB], Literary theory [DSA], Literature & literary studies [D], Language [C], History of art & design styles: c 1800 to c 1900 [ACV], History of art & design styles: c 1600 to c 1800 [ACQ]