English Romantic Irony
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
At the crossroads of philosophy, aesthetics, and poetry, English Romantic Irony presents a rigorous and illuminating study of one of the most complex and misunderstood modes of literary expression in the British Romantic tradition. Anne K. Mellor argues that Romantic irony — far from being a mere rhetorical device — constitutes a comprehensive philosophical world-view, one that simultaneously acknowledges the chaos of existence and celebrates the creative self's power to impose order upon it. Drawing on the works of canonical figures including Byron, Keats, Carlyle, and Coleridge, Mellor illustrates how each author navigates the tension between finite human understanding and the infinite possibilities of the imagination. Rooted in the German philosophical tradition of Friedrich Schlegel, yet firmly grounded in the specificity of British literary culture, this landmark critical work reframes Romanticism as a self-conscious, dynamic, and perpetually unfinished enterprise. Mellor's prose is precise yet evocative, commanding authority without sacrificing accessibility, making this an indispensable text for scholars of nineteenth-century literature and literary theory alike. For anyone who has ever sensed a paradox at the heart of Romantic idealism, this work uncovers the ironic engine driving it — and the revelation is as unsettling as it is profound.
Author: Anne K. Mellor
Format: Hardback
Genre: Literary theory
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
At the crossroads of philosophy, aesthetics, and poetry, English Romantic Irony presents a rigorous and illuminating study of one of the most complex and misunderstood modes of literary expression in the British Romantic tradition. Anne K. Mellor argues that Romantic irony — far from being a mere rhetorical device — constitutes a comprehensive philosophical world-view, one that simultaneously acknowledges the chaos of existence and celebrates the creative self's power to impose order upon it. Drawing on the works of canonical figures including Byron, Keats, Carlyle, and Coleridge, Mellor illustrates how each author navigates the tension between finite human understanding and the infinite possibilities of the imagination. Rooted in the German philosophical tradition of Friedrich Schlegel, yet firmly grounded in the specificity of British literary culture, this landmark critical work reframes Romanticism as a self-conscious, dynamic, and perpetually unfinished enterprise. Mellor's prose is precise yet evocative, commanding authority without sacrificing accessibility, making this an indispensable text for scholars of nineteenth-century literature and literary theory alike. For anyone who has ever sensed a paradox at the heart of Romantic idealism, this work uncovers the ironic engine driving it — and the revelation is as unsettling as it is profound.