Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas (father as well as son), William Wordsworth, Percy B. Shelley, Friedrich Hölderlin, G.W.F. Hegel… The list of writers from the era conventionally identified as “Romantic” to have become enthusiastic about the French Revolution could keep on going indefinitely. In fact, ever since the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1765, through the French and the Haitian Revolutions throughout the 1790’s, all the way to 1848, the year that de-politicized Charles Baudelaire (according to his letter from May 5, 1852 to Narcisse Ancelle), literary production seems to have been inseparable from the process of building after and thinking social revolution. And that’s because both Romanticism and the bourgeois upheavals of the late 18th century inherit and put to practice the Enlightened commitment to “the free, independent use of all of our predispositions and powers in thought and action,” as Johann Adam Bergk put it in his 1795 article “Does Enlightenment Cause Revolutions?” But not every instance of Romanticism is revolutionary in the same way or engages with the big revolutions equally. And that’s what makes the relationship so seminal. This panel invites papers that examine the relationships between literature, literary life, textual practice more broadly, and the social changes that occurred throughout the world from the mid 18th to the mid 19th century, from whichever angle and framework. While primarily focused on the influence these revolutions had on German, French, and English thought, we welcome papers dealing with other intellectual and social contexts, for as long as a clear connection between a literature that can be deemed “Romantic” and social revolutions is being drawn.

Scholars from all over the world are invited. “Romanticism and Revolution” is a hybrid panel. Your presentation can be made in person or through Zoom. You are welcome to present remotely, although you can definitely take more advantage of the conference if you are there in person!

This panel invites papers that discuss the relationships between literary production and revolution from the second half of the 18th century until the middle of the 19th. The discussion proposed by the paper can take any approach the author(s) find proper. While primarily focused on authors from the French, German, and English traditions, the panel welcomes papers discussing other contexts, for as long as the link between “Romanticism and Revolution” is somehow maintained.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or need help with anything at all related to this panel and the submission process: henrique_carvalho_pereira@brown.edu 

SUBMISSIONS LINK: https://cfplist.com/nemla/User/SubmitAbstract/22304