Return of the Gods

Mythology in Romantic Philosophy and Literature
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-0-19-776396-4
Verlag: Oxford University Press Inc

Buch, Englisch, 280 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 147 mm x 213 mm, Gewicht: 404 g

Why was mythology of vital importance for the romantics? What role did mythology play in their philosophical and literary work? And what common sources of influence inspired these writers across Britain and Germany at the turn of the nineteenth century?

In this wide-ranging study, Owen Ware argues that the romantics turned to mythology for its potential to transform how we see ourselves, others, and the world. Engaging with authors such as William Blake, Friedrich Schlegel, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis), and Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ware shows why they believed that neither perception nor reason alone can sustain a vision of the unity of all things. A new mode of cognition is necessary, they claimed, one that revives the poetic origin of mythology and reveals our own mythmaking powers. Return of the Gods investigates the rise of mythology in the British and German traditions and the romantics' practices of reinterpreting old myths and inventing new ones. Their shared aim was nothing less than to elevate the human imagination to higher stages of self-development in which philosophy and poetry, as well as intellect and imagination, form an integrated whole. Far from calling us to return to the past, the romantics' work on mythology points us to a future where we can live in harmony with the personal, social, and natural worlds we inhabit.

Owen Ware combines intellectual history with philosophical analysis and literary criticism to offer a bold reflection on why mythology mattered for the romantics--and why it still matters today.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ware, Owen

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Sprachwissenschaften Sprachphilosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte und Literaturkritik
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sprachphilosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Introduction: Romantic Mythologies

- 1: Life and Ideal

- 2: Mythologies Old and New

- 3: Marriages of Heaven and Hell

- 4: Searching for the Blue Flower

- 5: The Imageless Truth

- Conclusion: Return of the Gods

Über Autor(innen)

Owen Ware is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. He is the author of Fichte's Moral Philosophy (OUP, 2020), Kant's Justification of Ethics (OUP, 2021), Kant on Freedom (CUP, 2023), Indian Philosophy and Yoga in Germany (Routledge, 2024), and the co-editor of Fichte's System of Ethics: A Critical Guide (CUP, 2021).