ENGL 5944-01: Global Romanticism

Section Description: In this course we will be discussing methods and approaches to world literature with a focus on Romanticism. We will identify the formal characteristics common to romantic literatures and the historical circumstances that give rise to them. Was Romanticism potentially a global project or does it identify a moment in the development of national literatures? How useful, ultimately, is the category of “Romanticism” once we move away from familiar, canonical texts? Key concepts will include race, nation, and empire; cultural capital and the construction of the “poet” in the 19th century; audience and reader relations; and the formation and revision of literary canons.