The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism: Volume 5, Romanticism

This volume of the celebrated Cambridge History of Literary Criticism series addresses literary criticism of the Romantic period, chiefly in Europe. Its seventeen chapters are by internationally-respected academics and explore a range of key topics and themes. The book is designed to help readers locate essential information and to develop approaches and viewpoints for a deeper understanding of issues discussed by Romantic critics or those that were fundamental to their works. Primary and secondary bibliographies provide a guide for further research. The coverage of the book, focusing on themes and genres but drawing in discussion of the key authors, has made the hardback edition the standard reference work on the period c.1780–c.1830. These remain in many ways the formative years for modern Anglo-American as well as European literary history.

• Major standard reference work on a key period of literary criticism • Written by leading scholars in the field of literary criticism in the Romantic period • Primary and secondary bibliographies provide a starting point for further research

Contents

Introduction; 1. Classical standards in the Romantic period Paul H. Fry; 2. Innovation and modernity Alfredo De Paz (trans. Albert Sbragia); 3. The French Revolution David Simpson; 4. Transcendental philosophy and romantic criticism David Simpson; 5. Nature Helmut J. Schneider; 6. Scientific models Joel Black; 7. Religion and literature E. S. Shaffer; 8. Romantic language theory and the art of understanding Kurt Mueller-Vollmer; 9. The Romantic transformation of rhetoric David Wellbery; 10. Romantic irony Gary Handwerk; 11. Theories of genre Tilottama Rajan; 12. Theory of the novel Marshall Brown; 13. The impact of Shakespeare Jonathan Arac; 14. The vocation of criticism and the crisis of the republic of letters Jon Klancher; 15. Women, gender, and literary criticism Theresa M. Kelley; 16. Literary history and historicism David Perkins; 17. Literature and the other arts Herbert Lindenberger; Bibliography; Index.

Reviews

‘ … uncompromisingly high scholarly standards and a commitment to the value of comparative intellectual history. Marshall Brown and Cambridge University Press are to be congratulated for investing in long-term interest rather than short-term trendiness … the volume provides such skilled accounts of the period's dense and provocative literary criticism.’

– Andrew Elfenbein, Romantic Circles