Romantic And Its Cognates

The history of the term and concept in the languages of Germany, England, France, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, and Russia.

Ever since the word romantic and its many cognates in European languages began to be used as technical terms towards the end of the eighteenth century, the quest for a satisfactory definition of their meanings has continued unabated. This collection of essays traces the history of the word in the major European languages, showing how romantic and its cognates were first introduced, how their usage spread and their connotations proliferated, and how their present usage became established. This book opens with an introduction by the editor, followed by an essay in which Professor Raymond Immerwaher, Chairman of the Department of German, University of Western Ontario, shows how romantic and its cognates became fashionable in England, France and Germany, and traces the extension of the meanings of these words up to 1790. The story is then taken up in individual essays on the history of the word and its cognates in the major European countries: in Germany, by the editor; in England, by Professor George Whalley, FRSC, of the Department of English, Queen's University, Kingston; in France, by Professor Maurice Z. Shroder of the Department of French, Barnard College, Columbia University; in Italy, by Professor Olga Ragusa of the Department of Italian, Columbia University; in Spain, by Professor Donald L. Shaw of the Department of Hispanic Studies, University of Edinburgh; in Scandinavia, by Professor P.M. Mitchell of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literature, University of Illinois; and in Russia, by Professor Sigrid McLaughlin of the Department of Slavic Studies, University of California at Santa Cruz. The final essay, by H.H.H. Remak, Professor of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Indiana, reports on trends of recent research on West European romanticism and suggests fruitful avenues for further exploration. The book will be of immense value to students and specialists interested in literary, linguistic and cultural aspects of romanticism, and to those concerned with comparative literature and the history of ideas. Hans Eicner taught at Queen's University, Kingston, from 1950 to 1967 when he was appointed Professor and Chairman of German, University of Toronto. Among his published books are: Thomas Mann, Eine Einführung in sein Werk; Friedrich Schlegel: Literary Notebooks 1797-1801; Reading German for Scientists; Kritische Friedrich Schlegel-Ausgabe (in four volumes); Four Modern German Authors: Mann, Rilke, Kafka, Brecht. In 1967 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

The Early Romantics met resistance from artists and academics alike in part because they defied the conventional wisdom that philosophy and the arts must be kept separate. Indeed, as the literary component of Romanticism has been studied and celebrated in recent years, its philosophical aspect has receded from view. This book, by one of the most respected scholars of the Romantic era, offers an explanation of Romanticism that not only restores but enhances understanding of the movement's origins, development, aims, and accomplishments--and of its continuing relevance. Poetry is in fact the general ideal of the Romantics, Frederick Beiser tells us, but only if poetry is understood not just narrowly as poems but more broadly as things made by humans. Seen in this way, poetry becomes a revolutionary ideal that demanded--and still demands--that we transform not only literature and criticism but all the arts and sciences, that we break down the barriers between art and life, so that the world itself becomes "romanticized." Romanticism, in the view Beiser opens to us, does not conform to the contemporary division of labor in our universities and colleges; it requires a multifaceted approach of just the sort outlined in this book. Table of Contents: Preface Introduction: Romanticism Now and Then 1. The Meaning of "Romantic Poetry" 2. Early German Romanticism: A. Characteristic 3. Early Romanticism and the Aufklärung 4. FrÃ1⁄4hromantik and Platonic Tradition 5. The Sovereignty of Art 6. The Concept of Bildung Early German Romanticism 7. Friedrich Schlegel: The Mysterious Romantic 8. The Paradox of Romantic Metaphysics 9. Kant and the Naturphilosophen 10. Religion and Politics in FrÃ1⁄4hromantik Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index This is an excellent book. Its ten chapters are much more accessible and often clearer than the larger classic tomes on the subject. Each takes up a very significant topic and is sure to be read with profit by a wide range of readers - whether they are new to the field or already quite familiar with it. The book concerns an era, Early German Romanticism, that is properly becoming a major focus of new research. This volume could become one of the most helpful steps in making the area part of the canon for Anglophone scholars in all fields today. It is surely one of the best remedies for correcting out of date images of the work of the German romantics as regressive, obscurantist, or irrelevant. Early German Romanticism extends and modifies the project of the Enlightenment. The author shows that it deserves our attention not only because it is an era represented by some of the most interesting and creative personalities in our cultural history, but also because its main line of thought is responsible for a way of thinking central to our own time, namely a naturalism that might be expansive enough to do justice to traditional interests in the unique value of human freedom. --Karl Ameriks, Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame This book is a very fine and erudite study. It is impressively wide-ranging: literature, metaphysics, political philosophy, science, ethics, and religion all come seriously into play. It almost functions as an introduction to Early German Romanticism at a very high though not forbidding level. --Ian Balfour, Professor of English, York University

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

The Romantic period coincided with revolutionary transformations of traditional political and human rights discourses, as well as witnessing rapid advances in technology and a primitivist return to nature. As a broad global movement, Romanticism strongly impacted on the literature and arts of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in ways that are still being debated and negotiated today. Examining the poetry, fiction, non-fiction, drama, and the arts of the period, this book considers: Important propositions and landmark ideas in the Romantic period; Key debates and critical approaches to Romantic studies; New and revisionary approaches to Romantic literature and art; The ways in which Romantic writing interacts with broader trends in history, politics, and aesthetics; European and Global Romanticism; The legacies of Romanticism in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Containing useful, reader-friendly features such as explanatory case studies, chapter summaries, and suggestions for further reading, this clear and engaging book is an invaluable resource for anyone who intends to study and research the complexity and diversity of the Romantic period, as well as the historical conditions which produced it.

Presents an authoritative and comprehensive survey of the major themes, thinkers, and movements in modern European intellectual history.

A succinct chronicle by the prize-winning author of The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture evaluates the lesser-known Romantic Revolution as a fundamental and far-reaching period while revealing the range of modern cultural axioms it inspired, from views about genius and sexuality to evolving theories about dreams and the subconscious.

The Oxford Handbook of British Romanticism offers a comprehensive guide to the literature and thought of the Romantic period, and an overview of the latest research on this topic. Written by a team of international experts, the Handbook analyses all aspects of the Romantic movement, pinpointing its different historical phases and analysing the intellectual and political currents which shaped them. It gives particular attention to devolutionary trends, exploring the English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish strands in 'British' Romanticism and assessing the impact of the constitutional changes that brought into being the 'United Kingdom' at a time of revolutionary turbulence and international conflict. It also gives extensive coverage to the publishing and reception history of Romantic writing, highlighting the role of readers, reviewers, publishers, and institutions in shaping Romantic literary culture and transmitting its ideas and values. Divided into ten sections, each containing four or five chapters, the Handbook covers key themes and concepts in Romantic studies as well as less chartered topics such as freedom of speech, literature and drugs, Romantic oratory, and literary uses of dialect. All the major male and female Romantic authors are included along with numerous lesser-known writers, the emphasis throughout being on the diversity of Romantic writing and the complexities and internal divisions of the culture that sustained it. The volume strikes a balance between familiarity and novelty to provide an accessible guide to current thinking and a conceptual reorganization of this fast-moving field.