294 Pages
    by Routledge

    294 Pages
    by Routledge

    The essays in this volume have all been carefully chosen by Cynthia Chase to exemplify the most important strands in contemporary critical thought on Romantic literature, in particular the best of recent feminist, deconstructive, and new historicist writing. They include contributions from critics such as Paul de Man, Mary Jacobus, Marjorie Levinson and Jerome Christensen. The collection, with its substantial introduction and judicious selection of key work, explains the significance of recent critical debate by relating it to fundamental critical questions that define Romanticism. Through the course of their analyses the essays offer answers to perhaps the most essential question posed by the Romantic period: what is the role of language in history?

    Preface  Acknowledgements  Introduction  1. Romanticism and Anti-Self Consciousness, Geoffrey Hartmand  2. Time and History in Wordsworth, Paul de Man  3. The Notion of Blockage in the Literature of the Sublime, Neil Hertz  4. Past Recognition - Narrative Origins in Freud and Wordsworth, Cathy Caruth  5. Splitting the Race of Men in Twain - Prostitution, Personification, and "The Prelude", Mary Jacobus  6. Literary Gentlemen and Lovely Ladies - The debate on the character of "Christabel",Karen Swann  7. Bearing Demons - "Frankenstein" and the Circumvention of Maternity, Margaret Homans  8. Introduction to Keats's "Life of Allegory", Marjorie Levinson  9. Byron's "Sardanapalus" and the Triumph of Liberalism, Jerome Christensen  10. Unbinding Words - "Prometheus Unbound", Carol Jacobs  Notes on Authors  Further Reading  Index

    Biography

    Cynthia Chase teaches courses in the Departments of English and Comparative Literature at Cornell Unviersity, USA.