The Romantic Revolution

Description

Three great revolutions rocked the world around 1800. The first two - the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution - have inspired the greatest volume of literature. But the third - the romantic revolution - was perhaps the most fundamental and far-reaching. From it derive virtually all the cultural axioms of the modern world: the stress on genius, originality and individual expression; the dominance of music; the obsession with sexuality, dreams and the subconscious; the public as patron; the worship of art and artists. Tim Blanning traces the evolution of romanticism from Rousseau's conversion-experience on the road to Vincennes in 1749. Contrary to received wisdom, Blanning argues that the 18th century was an intensely religious age, but one increasingly dissatisfied with organised religion. Art and artists began to fill this void. By the mid-19th century, realism had made a comeback but fin-de-siecle and post-modernism reasserted the romantic agenda.

Tim Blanning is Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He is also a Fellow of the British Academy. He has been described by The Sunday Times as 'a long-time Cambridge academic who can make even the most arcane subject thrum with interest'. He lives in Cambridge.

Splendidly provocative -- Dominic Sandbrook * SUNDAY TIMES * Music, art, literature and politics are interwoven with assured erudition and clarity * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH * The pan-European sweep of this concise, absorbing study takes the reader far beyond the familiar home-grown poets. * INDEPENDENT * Vivid, readable ... This brief survey is an elegant introduction to the emergence of an outlook that was revolutionary but is now the norm. -- Judith Rice * GUARDIAN * Wide-ranging and expertly researched ... a thought provoking study * GOOD BOOK GUIDE *