Title The aesthetics of fear in German Romanticism / Paola Mayer

Published Montreal ; Kingston ; London ; Chicago : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2019

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Description 1 online resource Series McGill-Queen's studies in the history of ideas ; 77 McGill-Queen's studies in the history of ideas ; 77. Contents Theoretical Discourses -- Ludwig Tieck -- Apel and Laun, Gespensterbuch -- Heinrich von Kleist -- Definitions and Theories -- Tales of Music and Musicians -- Tales of Science and Scientists -- Romanticism Re-evaluated: Joseph von Eichendorff Summary "Enlightenment--both the phenomenon specific to the eighteenth century and the continuing trend in Western thought--is an attempt to dispel ignorance, achieve mastery of a potentially hostile environment, and contain fear of the unknown by promoting science and rationality. Enlightenment is often accompanied and challenged by countercultures such as German Romanticism, which explored the nature of fear and deployed it as a corrective to the excesses of rationalism. The Aesthetics of Fear in German Romanticism uncovers the formative role this movement played in the development of dark or negative aesthetics. Recovering a missing chapter in the history of the aesthetics of fear, Paola Mayer illustrates that Romanticism was a crucial transitional phase between the eighteenth-century sublime and the early twentieth-century uncanny. Mayer puts literature and philosophy in dialogue, examining how German Romantic literature employed narratives of fear to radicalize and then subvert the status quo in society, culture, and science. She traces the development of this aesthetic from its inception with pre-Romantics such as Jean Paul Richter to its end in Joseph von Eichendorff's critical retrospective, and juxtaposes canonical authors such as E.T.A. Hoffmann--the father of the modern fantastic--with writers who have previously been ignored. Today, when the dark side of science looms in the foreground, The Aesthetics of Fear in German Romanticism points to the power of a literary movement to construct competing currents of thought."-- Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version record Subject German literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism. Romanticism -- Germany Aesthetics in literature. Fear in literature. LITERARY CRITICISM -- European -- German. Aesthetics in literature Fear in literature German literature Romanticism Germany Genre/Form Literary criticism Criticism, interpretation, etc. Literary criticism. Critiques littéraires. Form Electronic book ISBN 9780228000266 0228000262 9780228000259 0228000254

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