 |
|
     |
|
|
|
Two reviews in the April 30 edition of the TLS highlight the continuing influence of Romanticism. Colin Falck's American and British Verse in the Twentieth Century characterizes romanticism as the effort "to build a spiritual work in the context of a religious dogma that has failed, and a scientific and mechanistic world-picture that has succeeded all too well," and defined this way romanticim's dilemmas are still ours. Interest in spirituality (inevitably, vaguely defined), in Eastern Religions, and so on indicates that the same dynamics remain in our culture.
Elsewhere in the same issue Ann Gaylin reviews John Beer's Post-Romantic Consciousness, in which Beer argues that Romanticism is "a line of thought that is fundamentally anti-Cartesian" and that stretches from "the English Romantics to twentieth-century literature and philosophy." Challenging the assumption that "rational analysis was adequate to comprehend the workings of the human mind," the Romantics "considered Being as 'the real key to human nature.'" Being here provided a way, in Beer's language, of connecting "processes of natural life and the subconscious work of the human psyche." Or, as Wordsworth put it, "We feel that we are greater than we know."
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, May 21, 2004 at 01:54 PM
Permission is given to use material on this site, provided the source is cited, blog entries are republished in full, and the author is notified in advance.
1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary
The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter
A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons
Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature
Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen
The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism
A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel
From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution
Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy
Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper
A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature
Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays
Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life
The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church
