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This wide-ranging and original book reappraises the role of genre, and genre theory, in British Romanticism. Analyzing numerous examples from 1760 to 1830, David Duff examines the generic innovations and experiments which propel the Romantic 'revolution in literature', but also the fascination with archaic forms such as the ballad, sonnet, epic, and romance, whose revival and transformation make Romanticism a 'retro' movement as well as a revolutionary one. The tension between the drives to 'make it old' and to 'make it new' generates one of the most dynamic phases in the history of literature, whose complications are played out in the critical writing of the period as well as its creative literature. Incorporating extensive research on classification systems and reception history as well as on literary forms themselves, Romanticism and the Uses of Genre demonstrates how new ideas about the role and status of genre influenced not only authors but also publishers, editors, reviewers, and readers. The focus is on poetry, but a wider spectrum of genres is considered, a central theme being the relationship - hierarchical, competitive, combinatory - between genres. Among the topics addressed are generic primitivism and forgery; Enlightenment theory and the 'cognitive turn'; the impact of German transcendental aesthetics; organic and anti-organic form; the role of genre in the French Revolution debate; the poetics of the fragment and sketch; and the theory and practice of genre-mixing. Unprecedented in its scope and detail, this important book establishes a new way of reading Romantic literature which brings into focus for the first time its tangled relationship with genre.
Show moreThis wide-ranging and original book reappraises the role of genre, and genre theory, in British Romanticism. Analyzing numerous examples from 1760 to 1830, David Duff examines the generic innovations and experiments which propel the Romantic 'revolution in literature', but also the fascination with archaic forms such as the ballad, sonnet, epic, and romance, whose revival and transformation make Romanticism a 'retro' movement as well as a revolutionary one. The tension between the drives to 'make it old' and to 'make it new' generates one of the most dynamic phases in the history of literature, whose complications are played out in the critical writing of the period as well as its creative literature. Incorporating extensive research on classification systems and reception history as well as on literary forms themselves, Romanticism and the Uses of Genre demonstrates how new ideas about the role and status of genre influenced not only authors but also publishers, editors, reviewers, and readers. The focus is on poetry, but a wider spectrum of genres is considered, a central theme being the relationship - hierarchical, competitive, combinatory - between genres. Among the topics addressed are generic primitivism and forgery; Enlightenment theory and the 'cognitive turn'; the impact of German transcendental aesthetics; organic and anti-organic form; the role of genre in the French Revolution debate; the poetics of the fragment and sketch; and the theory and practice of genre-mixing. Unprecedented in its scope and detail, this important book establishes a new way of reading Romantic literature which brings into focus for the first time its tangled relationship with genre.
Show morePreface
List of Illustrations
Introduction
1: The Old Imperial Code
2: Romantic Genre Theory
3: (Anti)-Didacticism
4: Archaism and Innovation
5: The Combinatorial Method
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
David Duff studied in York and taught in Poland at the Nicholas
Copernicus University of Torun and the University of Gdansk before
moving to Scotland. He has published widely on Romantic poetics and
book history. His previous publications include Romance and
Revolution: Shelley and the Politics of a Genre (1994), an
anthology of Modern Genre Theory (2000), and a co-edited
collection, Scotland, Ireland, and the Romantic Aesthetic
(2007).
He is currently editing The Oxford Handbook of British Romanticism
and The Oxford Anthology of Romanticism, a major new teaching
anthology.
The question of genre is still one of the thorniest in literary
criticism, and its complexities persist beyond all theoretical
paradigms brought to bear on it. Romantic genre, arguably the very
ground of our cultural conundrums about reference, historicity, and
class, has found a worthy scholar in David Duff, who gathers the
dense materials of his subject with an unblinking rigor ...
judicious and impressive
*Karen Weisman, Studies in Romanticism*
a remarkable achievement ... Duff writes lucidly and eloquently...
His book is a pleasure as well as an education to read.
*Richard Cronin, The Wordsworth Circle*
Duff provides illuminating evidence for the view that the Romantic
period was acutely genre-conscious... this is a richly detailed and
admirably researched book that will prove invaluable to all
students of Romanticism
*Ross Wilson, Times Literary Supplement*
the most comprehensive study of the literary field of Romantic
poetry to have appeared since Stuart Curran's landmark Poetic Form
and British Romanticism (Oxford, 1986). Duff brings a historically
more dynamic, developmental understanding of genre, its historical
roots, and its formation within the institutions of literary
production... Authoritative in range and command
*Ian Duncan, Studies in English Literature 1500-1900*
an ambitious, timely, and insightful appraisal... Duff's chapters
are eclectic, comprehensive, and packed with detail, and... will
undoubtedly benefit both undergraduates and scholars alike in their
quest to fathom the underlying complexities and inherent tensions
associated with the 'uses of genre', not just in the Romantic
period but throughout the eighteenth century and beyond.
*Adrian J. Wallbank, Modern Language Review*
Duff's very fine study... adds significantly to our understanding
of the complexities of a topic that in its day was conceptually and
practically all over the map
*J. Douglas Kneale, Review of English Studies*
Duff's recent work on Romantic poetry shows the extent to which
genre studies are very much alive and kicking. Drawing on German
and English Romantic theory and practice... Duff's book is to be
saluted for its engaging richness and subtlety
*Erik Martiny, English Studies*
Duff's elegant, lucid prose and his careful documentation reinforce
his compelling thesis that during the Romantic era genres (and
genre theories) were neither degraded nor compromised but were, to
the contrary, revived, subverted and most of all recombined for
strikingly new artistic and ideological purposes. Books that offer
a genuinely 'fresh' look - a startlingly new perspective - are
rare: this is one such book, and reading it is richly
rewarding.
*Stephen C. Behrendt, British Association of Romantic Studies
Bulletin and Review*
Anyone interested in a careful and fair-minded assessment of
neoclassical genre criticism and the intellectual heirs and rebels
it produced would do well to consult this book; and even scholars
familiar with the field might make surprising discoveries about
texts or interconnections they had not previously considered.
*Christopher R. Miller, European Romantic Review*
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