American Romanticism and the Popularization of Literary Education

165 Pages·2022·12.303 MB·English

by  Clemens Spahr

American Romanticism
and the Popularization
of Literary Education

American Romanticism
and the Popularization
of Literary Education
Clemens Spahr
LEXINGTON BOOKS
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on File
ISBN 978-1-7936-4954-6 (cloth : alk. Paper)
ISBN 978-1-7936-4955-3 (electronic)
∞ ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
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Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
For Melanie and Benjamin

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 Universal Education: American Romanticism and the
Institutions of Education 17
2 Intelligent Sympathies: Conversations and the
Institutionalization of Romantic Education 37
3 The Problem of Audience: Nineteenth-Century Periodical
Culture and Romantic Popular Education 71
4 Public Intellectuals: The Romantic Lecture,
Professionalization, and Politics 101
Conclusion 131
Bibliography 135
Index 149
About the Author 153
vii

Acknowledgments
This book is the product of a research project funded by the German Research
Foundation (DFG, project no.: SP 1366/5). Without their financial support,
none of this would have been possible. I am grateful for the support of many
colleagues and friends, most notably Oliver Scheiding, Jan Stievermann,
Wesley Mott, Sandra Petrulionis, Philipp Löffler, Maximilian Meinhardt,
Franziska Schmid, and a host of international Romanticism experts at various
pre-Corona conferences, all of whom have commented on parts of this proj-
ect in its various stages. A crucial moment in the readjustment of the project
occurred when I presented parts of it in the context of the Newberry Seminar in
American Literature. I am particularly grateful to the seminar’s coordinators,
Walter Benn Michaels and Kenneth Warren, but also to Jennifer Ashton, Sarah
Buchmeier, and everyone else who attended the seminar. I’d also like to thank
Gregor Baszak, who has offered valuable comments on the manuscript’s theo-
retical frame. In addition, I am grateful to the staffs at Houghton Library, the
wonderful Gutman Library, and the Boston Public Library, who have guided
me through the various manuscript and rare book collections I consulted.
At Lexington Books, Holly Buchanan has supported this project from the
beginning. She also showed patience with the completion of the manuscript.
I’d like to thank her for her professionalism and helpfulness. The anonymous
reviewer has provided invaluable help with revising the manuscript.
Finally, I’d like to thank my family for putting up with yet another book
project. I apologize.
Parts of chapter 3 have originally appeared as “‘The Great Work of
Mutual Education’: Class, Popularity, and the Position of the Intellectual in
Margaret Fuller’s Literary Journalism,” ESQ: Journal of Nineteenth-Century
American Literature and Culture 66.3 (2020): 481–517. The text is reprinted
by permission.
ix