Eighteenth-century literature is often associated with the birth of the realistic novel, just as the Romantic movement is often associated with intellectual idealism. This study asks its readers to reconsider and perhaps even to invert impressions like these. It re-examines English Romantic literature in the light of a profound shift of realistic understanding, going beyond the empirical representation of people and objects into new and bold explorations of moral psychology.
| Acknowledgements |
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ix | |
| Introduction |
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1 | (22) |
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1 An Eighteenth-Century Scene of Thought: Some Philosophers |
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23 | (26) |
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2 An Eighteenth-Century Scene of Thought: Some Imaginative Writers |
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49 | (26) |
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3 The Idea of the Unconscious: The Prelude of 1799 |
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75 | (25) |
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4 The Idea of the Irrational: Northanger Abbey |
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100 | (30) |
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5 The Idea of the Immediate: Don Juan |
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130 | (29) |
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6 The Idea of the Personal: "My First Acquaintance with Poets" |
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159 | (27) |
| Conclusion |
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186 | (9) |
| Bibliography |
|
195 | (8) |
| Index |
|
203 | |
Richard Lansdown, PhD (1989), University College London, is Associate Professor of English at James Cook University. He has published three books on Lord Byron as well as many articles on British and European Romantic literature.
