Romanticism, Republicanism, and the Swiss Myth

Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-1-009-21029-4
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, Band 138, 300 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 608 g

Reihe: Cambridge Studies in Romanticism

The first detailed treatment of Switzerland in British literature and culture from Joseph Addison to John Ruskin, this book analyzes the aesthetic and political uses of what is commonly called the 'Swiss myth' in the parallel development of Romanticism and liberalism. The myth merged the country's legends going back to the Middle Ages with the Enlightenment image of a happy, free nation of alpine shepherds. Its unique combination of conservative, progressive, and radical associations enabled writers before the French Revolution to call for democratic reforms, whereas those coming after could refigure it as a conservative alternative to French liberté. Integrating intellectual history with literary studies, and addressing a wide range of Romantic-period texts and authors, among them Byron, the Shelleys, Hemans, Scott, Coleridge, and, above all, Wordsworth, the book argues that the myth contributed to the liberal idea of the people as a sublime yet sleeping sovereign.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Vincent, Patrick

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft: Dramen und Dramatiker
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft: Lyrik und Dichter
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Regional- & Stadtgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction; 1. 'Not / a pastoral fable': republicanism, liberalism, and the Swiss myth; 2. Comparative republicanisms: the Swiss myth in eighteenth-century Britain; 3. Revising republicanism: revolutionary-period travel writing on Switzerland; 4. Switzerland no more: 1798 and the romantic imagination; 5. Switzerland in miniature: Wordsworth's 'visionary mountain republic'; 6. Restoration republicanism: the Swiss myth after 1815; Coda: John Ruskin's Switzerland; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Vincent, Patrick
Patrick Vincent is the author of The Romantic Poetess: European Culture, Politics and Gender, 1820–1840 (2004), and has edited or co-edited several books, including an edition of Helen Maria Williams' A Tour in Switzerland (2011), Romanticism, Rousseau, Switzerland: New Prospects (2015) and The Cambridge History of European Romantic Literature (forthcoming 2023).