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Literary Criticism Gothic & Romance

Romanticism and the Materiality of Nature

by (author) Onno Oerlemans

Publisher
University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Initial publish date
Dec 2003
Category
Gothic & Romance, English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802086976
    Publish Date
    Jan 2004
    List Price
    $29.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802048639
    Publish Date
    Mar 2002
    List Price
    $52
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442679467
    Publish Date
    Dec 2003
    List Price
    $90.00

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Description

Given current environmental concerns, it is not surprising to find literary critics and theorists surveying the Romantic poets with ecological hindsight. In this timely study, Onno Oerlemans extends these current eco-critical views by synthesizing a range of viewpoints from the Romantic period. He explores not only the ideas of poets and artists, but also those of philosophers, scientists, and explorers.

Oerlemans grounds his discussion in the works of specific Romantic authors, especially Wordsworth and Shelley, but also draws liberally on such fields as literary criticism, the philosophy of science, travel literature, environmentalist policy, art history, biology, geology, and genetics, creating a fertile mix of historical analysis, cultural commentary, and close reading. Through this, we discover that the Romantics understood how they perceived the physical world, and how they distorted and abused it. Oerlemans's wide-ranging study adds much to our understanding of Romantic-period thinkers and their relationship to the natural world.

About the author

Onno Oerlemans is an associate professor in the Department of English at Hamilton College.

Onno Oerlemans' profile page

Awards

  • Winner, Raymond Klibansky Prize, Canadian Foundation for the Humanities & Social Sciences