British Literature and its Contexts: 1770-1830


A doctoral course of 7.5 credits organised by and held at Lund University, with contributions from the universities of Copenhagen and Stockholm, on 13-17 May 2019.

This week-long, intensive course examines a range of key works, figures, and debates, from the so-called ‘romantic’ period in British culture. This was an age of revolutions, which generated new epistemologies, new politics, and new aesthetics, and which witnessed the birth of ‘modern’ Europe. Short lectures on special topics, approaches, and scholarly debates, are combined with seminars focusing in detail on specific works of romantic-period writing and specific ideological concerns. A variety of critical and theoretical approaches to the cultural texts of the Romantic period are explored as is the continuing legacy of the so-called ‘romantic ideology’ to our cultures today. Some emphasis is placed on the extent to which British romantic literature can only adequately be understood in relation to a wider, European context, with lectures and seminars also addressing the reciprocal influence of German and Nordic thought, and the importance of Classical and vernacular literatures.

Lectures and seminars will be delivered by Birgitta Berglund (Lund), Cian Duffy (Lund), Robert Rix (Copenhagen), and Giles Whiteley (Stockholm), all scholars of international standing in Romantic studies.