Originally published in 1940 as the first part of a two-volume study, this book examines the Romantic Movement in Spain from its roots in the Spanish Golden Age during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, to the Romantic revival in the nineteenth century and the ensuing conflict between Classicists and Romanticists, which abated after 1837. Peers looks at key texts in the history of the Romantic style, as well as external influences on Spanish style in this period of literary upheaval. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the history of Spanish literature or the Romantic Period.

"A deep and genuine analysis of the women writers who are the objects of each chapter, utilizing the most modern methods of literary criticism . . . this book will be viewed as essential not only by scholars of women in literature but also for specialists dealing with the nineteenth century."--Gregorio C. Martin, Duquesne University "She shows us things we have not seen before. . . . This is a sophisticated, elegant, and important text. It demonstrates clearly, and for the first time, how women helped to shape Spanish Romantic discourse--both as subject and as object--and how prevailing attitudes shaped their writings."--David T. Gies, University of Virginia "A deep and genuine analysis of the women writers who are the objects of each chapter, utilizing the most modern methods of literary criticism . . . this book will be viewed as essential not only by scholars of women in literature but also for specialists dealing with the nineteenth century."--Gregorio C. Martin, Duquesne University

This collection of thirteen specially commissioned essays by international scholars takes a fresh look at the profound impact of the Peninsular War on Romantic British literature and culture. The expertly authored chapters explore the valorization of Spain by nineteenth-century poets such as Lord Byron, William Wordsworth, Robert Southey, S.T. Coleridge, the Shelleys, and Felicia Hemans in contrast to the Enlightenment-era view of Spain as a backwards nation in decline. Topics discussed include the vision of Spain in Gothic fiction, Spanish experiences of exile as exemplified by the conflict between Valentin de Llanos and Joseph Blanco White, and British women writers' approach to peninsular fiction. Spain in British Romanticism: 1800-1840 is essential reading for scholars and enthusiasts of Romantic literature and Spanish history.

Publisher Description

The aim of these investigations has been to trace the native origins of the Romantic movement of the nineteenth century, this self-conscious opposition to neo-classicism; to follow its course until it joins the general European movement; and in so doing to estimate the quantity and quality of the Romantic products of the period under survey. The field of study covers approximately the whole of the eighteenth century, from the time when the accession of a Bourbon prince encouraged the already growing tendency to adopt French habits, until the late decades when Spanish romanticism had begun to unite itself with the movement abroad. - Preface.

The Romantic Movement in Europe was both a revolt and a revival, a philosophy of life as well as of art. In the earliest expressions of romantic theory by Rousseau and Diderot, it is seen as a revolt against rationalism. In Great Britain and Italy it appears as a revolt against classicism, in Spain as a revival of the tradition of the Moorish courts, and in Germany, where it excited the greatest enthusiasm, as both a revolt against rationalism and a revival of the Gothic and Germanic. Despite the differences of aim and emphasis across Europe, Professor Cranston argues that romaticism was a European phenomenon, as universal as the Renaissance. He isolates its common features - liberty, introspection, and the importance of love; truth in the expression of feeling as much as of thought; nature seen as an object of devotion rather than scientific study; a tolerance of the grotesque coupled with an interest in the exotic, the primitive and the medieval; a concern for the value of intuition over ratiocination; and a preference for audacity over prudence. The Romantic Movement is part of the common European heritage, and its influence is by no means at an end. The book is the first to describe its philosophy, history, and cultural and artistic manifestations, and the ways these varied across the countries of Europe.