Romanticism, Aesthetics, and Nationalism

173 Pages·1999·0.79 MB·English

by  David Aram Kaiser

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This ambitious study argues that our modern conception of the
aesthetic sphere emerged during the era of British and German
RomanticismfromconXictsbetweencompetingmodelsofthelib-
eral state and the cultural nation. The aesthetic sphere is thus
centrallyconnectedto‘‘aestheticstatism,’’whichisthetheoretical
projectofreconcilingconXictsinthepoliticalspherebyappealing
to the unity of the symbol. David Kaiser traces the trajectory of
aesthetic statism from Schiller and Coleridge, through Arnold,
Mill, and Ruskin, to Adorno and Habermas. He analyzes how
theconceptofaestheticautonomyshiftsfrombeingasupplement
tothe politicalsphereto an end in itself;this shift lies behindthe
problems that contemporary literary theory has faced in its
attemptstoconnecttheaestheticandpoliticalspheres.Finally,he
suggests that we rethink the aesthetic sphere in order to regain
thatconnection.
david aram kaiser gained his Ph.D. from the University of
California, Berkeley, and has taught at the University of Ken-
tucky.Hehaspublishedarticlesin,amongstotherjournals,Studies
inRomanticismandEuropeanRomanticReview.

cambridge studies in romanticism 34
ROMANTICISM,
AESTHETICS, AND
NATIONALISM
cambridge studies in romanticism 34
Generaleditors
ProfessorMarilynButler
UniversityofOxford
ProfessorJamesChandler
UniversityofChicago
Editorialboard
JohnBarrell,UniversityofYork
PaulHamilton,UniversityofLondon
MaryJacobus,CornellUniversity
KennethJohnston,IndianaUniversity
AlanLiu,UniversityofCalifornia,SantaBarbara
JeromeMcGann,UniversityofVirginia
DavidSimpson,UniversityofCalifornia
ThisseriesaimstofosterthebestnewworkinoneofthemostchallengingWelds
within English literary studies. From the early 1780s to the early 1830s a
formidablearrayoftalentedmenandwomentooktoliterarycomposition,not
justinpoetry,whichsomeofthemfamouslytransformed,butinmanymodes
ofwriting.Theexpansionofpublishingcreatednewopportunitiesforwriters,
and the political stakes of what they wrote were raised again by what
Wordsworthcalledthose‘‘greatnationalevents’’thatwere‘‘almostdailytaking
place’’:theFrenchRevolution,theNapoleonicandAmericanwars,urbaniz-
ation,industrialization,religiousrevival,anexpandedempireabroad,andthe
reform movement at home. This was an enormous ambition, even when it
pretendedotherwise.Therelationsbetweenscience,philosophy,religion,and
literature were reworked in texts such as Frankenstein and Biographia Literaria;
genderrelationsinAVindicationoftheRightsofWomanandDonJuan;journalism
byCobbettandHazlitt;poeticform,content,andstylebytheLakeSchooland
theCockneySchool.OutsideShakespearestudies,probablynobodyofwriting
hasproducedsuchawealthofresponsesofmoderncriticism.Thisindeedisthe
periodthatsawtheemergenceofthosenotionsof‘‘literature’’andof literary
history, especially national literary history, on which modern scholarship in
Englishhasbeenfounded.
The categories produced by Romanticism have also been challenged by
recent historicist arguments. The task of the series is to engage both with a
challengingcorpusof Romanticwritings andwith the changingWeldof criti-
cism they have helped to shape. As with other literary series published by
Cambridge, this one will represent the work of both younger and more
establishedscholars,oneithersideoftheAtlanticandelsewhere.
Foracompletelistoftitlespublishedseeendofbook
R O M A N T I C I S M ,
A E S T H E T I C S , A N D
N A T I O N A L I S M
DAVID ARAM KAISER
         
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http://www.cambridge.org
©David Aram Kaiser 2004
First published in printed format 1999
ISBN 0-511-03560-8 eBook (Adobe Reader)
ISBN 0-521-63000-2 hardback
This book is dedicated to my parents, Frank Charles and Nectar Zailian
Kaiser, without whose spiritual and material support this book could never
havebeen written.Their belief in the fundamentalvalue and powerof culture
was a central formative inXuence on me. I consider it a gift I freely accepted,
andforthistooIamverygrateful.
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