The Oxford Handbook of British Romanticism offers a comprehensive guide to the literature and thought of the Romantic period, and an overview of the latest research on this topic. Written by a team of international experts, the Handbook analyses all aspects of the Romantic movement, pinpointing its different historical phases and analysing the intellectual and political currents which shaped them. It gives particular attention to devolutionary trends, exploring the English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish strands in 'British' Romanticism and assessing the impact of the constitutional changes that brought into being the 'United Kingdom' at a time of revolutionary turbulence and international conflict. It also gives extensive coverage to the publishing and reception history of Romantic writing, highlighting the role of readers, reviewers, publishers, and institutions in shaping Romantic literary culture and transmitting its ideas and values.
Divided into ten sections, each containing four or five chapters, the Handbook covers key themes and concepts in Romantic studies as well as less chartered topics such as freedom of speech, literature and drugs, Romantic oratory, and literary uses of dialect. All the major male and female Romantic authors are included along with numerous lesser-known writers, the emphasis throughout being on the diversity of Romantic writing and the complexities and internal divisions of the culture that sustained it. The volume strikes a balance between familiarity and novelty to provide an accessible guide to current thinking and a conceptual reorganization of this fast-moving field.
David Duff: Introduction
Part I: Historical Phases
1: Nick Groom: Romanticism before 1789
2: Jon Mee: The Revolutionary Decade
3: Simon Bainbridge: The New Century: 1800-1815
4: Kelvin Everest: Post-War Romanticism
5: Angela Esterhammer: The 1820s and Beyond
Part II: Region and Nation
6: Fiona Stafford: England and Englishness
7: Penny Fielding: Scotland and the North
8: Mary-Ann Constantine: Wales and the West
9: Jim Kelly: Ireland and Union
Part III: Hierarchies
10: Michael Bradshaw: Romantic Generations
11: Brian Goldberg: Poetry and Social Class
12: Gary Kelly: The Spectrum of Fiction
13: Anne K. Mellor: Gender Boundaries
14: Susan Manly: Literature for Children
Part IV: Legislation
15: David Worrall: Freedom of Speech
16: Gillian Russell: The Regulation of Theatres
17: Anthony Howe: Poetic Defences and Manifestos
18: William Christie: Critical Judgement and the Reviewing Profession
19: Victoria Myers: Trial Literature
Part V: Cognition
20: Thomas Keymer: The Subjective Turn
21: Noel Jackson: Literature and the Senses
22: Sharon Ruston: 'High' Romanticism: Literature and Drugs
23: Catherine Jones: Writer-Physicians
Part VI: Composition
24: Erik Simpson: Orality and Improvisation
25: Jane Stabler: Revision and Self-Citation
26: Beth Lau: Intertextual Dialogue
27: Pamela Clemit: Letters and Journals
Part VII: Publication
28: Paul Keen: Book-Making
29: Michael Gamer: Oeuvre-Making and Canon-Formation
30: Tom Mole: Celebrity and Anonymity
31: Felicity James: Romantic Readers
32: Lynda Pratt: Non-Publication
Part VIII: Language
33: Jane Hodson: Literary Uses of Dialect
34: Judith Thompson: Romantic Oratory
35: Michael Rossington: Creative Translation
36: Stephen Behrendt: The Ineffable
Part IX: Aesthetics
37: Andrew Bennett: The Romantic Lexicon
38: Tim Milnes: Literature and Philosophy
39: Gregory Dart: Practical Criticism
40: Sophie Thomas: Word and Image
41: Kirsteen McCue: The Culture of Song
Part X: Imports and Exports
42: Nicholas Halmi: The Greco-Roman Revival
43: James Watt: Orientalism and Hebraism
44: James Vigus: Continental Romanticism in Britain
45: Patrick Vincent: British Romantics Abroad
46: Fiona Robertson: Transatlantic Engagements
