Scholars of German literature, history, and culture argue that Enlightenment discourse not only was developed during, but also responded to and was profoundly shaped by a period of prolonged European warfare ranging from the Seven Years' War 1756-63, and the Polish Revolution through the 1792 Revolutionary and 1803-15 Napoleonic Wars. Filling in a gap that critics of the period have left, they cover war and enlightenment, cultures of war in Classicism and Romanticism, war and gender, and war and theory. Their topics include writing war and the aesthetics of political literature during the 1790s as epitomized by Daniel Henisch's Borussias, recoding the ethics of war in Grimms' fairy tales, Therese Huber on terror and revolution, and Carl von Clausewitz's hermeneutics of disturbance and probability. Camden House is an imprint of Boydell and Brewer. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Enlightened War investigates the multiple and complex interactions between warfare and Enlightenment thought. Although the Enlightenment is traditionally identified with the ideals of progress, eternal peace, reason, and self-determination, Enlightenment discourse unfolded during a period of prolonged European warfare from the Seven Years' War to the Napoleonic conquest of Europe. The essays in this volume explore the palpable influence of war on eighteenth-century thought and argue for an ideological affinity among war, Enlightenment thought, and its legacy. The essays are interdisciplinary, engaging with history, art history, philosophy, military theory, gender studies, and literature and with historical events and cultural contexts from the early Enlightenment through German Classicism and Romanticism. The volume enriches our understanding of warfare in the eighteenth century and shows how theories and practices of war impacted concepts of subjectivity, national identity, gender, and art. It also sheds light on the contemporary discussion of the legitimacy of violence by juxtaposing theories of war, concepts of revolution, and human rights discourses. Contributors: Johannes Birgfeld, David Colclasure, Sara Eigen Figal, Ute Frevert, Wolf Kittler, Elisabeth Krimmer, Waltraud Maierhofer, Arndt Niebisch, Felix Saure, Galili Shahar, Patricia Anne Simpson, Inge Stephan. Elisabeth Krimmer is Professor of German at the University of California, Davis, and Patricia Anne Simpson is Associate Professor of German Studies at Montana State University.
New essays exploring the relationship between warfare and Enlightenment thought both historically and in the present.