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The Soul in British Romanticism provides a history of the modern concept of the human and the nascence of the human sciences during the long eighteenth century as well as a theory of Romantic poetry. The book investigates the forms and functions of the human soul from the late seventeenth to the early nineteenth century: during the Enlightenment, the traditional notion of an immortal and immaterial soul was replaced by immanent concepts such as vitalism, the nervous system and the brain. In the course of this development, the key faculties associated with the soul - transcendence, immortality and imagination - were increasingly negotiated in poetry. Thus, the transformation of the soul, leading to a fundamentally new and different understanding of what it is to be human, also created a new conception of the medium of literature. Romantic poetry tries to recapture the lost qualities of the human soul in and through the creative imagination which becomes the essence of poetry and a warranty of art's transcendence and immortality. On the other hand, this triggers a reflection on the immanent and material basis of poetry because, paradoxically, the constant reference to transcendence in immanence ultimately leads to a profound reflection on language, texture and on the materiality of the medium of poetry. Through this medial self-reflexivity, Romantic poetry becomes the first form of modern literature.

This brilliantly conceived, exhilarating, and wide-ranging collection of essays is essential reading for all those interested in taking the long view of the historical, literary, and philosophical times of British Romanticism. Pamela Clemit, Queen Mary University of London Romanticism and Time is a remarkable affirmation of border-crossings and international exchanges in many ways. This major collection of essays represents the work of eminent scholars from France, Germany, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as they in turn represent the Romanticisms that emerged not only from the “four nations” of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland but also from Continental Europe and America. With their commitment to diversity, to change, and to exchange, and because of their awareness of the romanticism of periodization itself, the authors in this volume produce, as Wordsworth might say, a “timely utterance.” Kevis Goodman, University of California, Berkeley This volume considers Romantic poetry as embedded in and reflecting on the march of time, regarding it not merely as a reaction to the course of events between the late- eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries, but also as a form of creative engagement with history in the making. Revising current thinking about periodisation, these essays survey the Romantic canon's evolution over time and approach Romanticism as a phenomenon unfolding across national borders.

In Deutschland beginnt die professionelle Schauspielkunst im frühen 17. Jahrhundert mit den Wanderzügen der Englischen Komödianten, Schauspielern aus dem Umfeld der elisabethanischen Theatertruppen. Sie führten eine Tradition ein, die über die deutsche Wanderbühne bis zur Gründung der Nationaltheater reicht. Eine literarische Rezeption des elisabethanischen Dramas hingegen vermochten sie nicht zu initiieren. Ihr Repertoire, das unter anderem auf den Stücken Shakespeares basierte, bestand aus moralisierenden Haupt- und Staatsaktionen, deren sozialdisziplinierende Ausrichtung allerdings durch den Aspekt des Performativen unterwandert wurde. Der vorliegende Band untersucht die drei maßgeblichen Aspekte der englischen Wanderbühne in Deutschland: die Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte der Truppen, das Repertoire und die zeitgenössische Rezeption in Deutschland.