The Romantic Age

A History of Modern Criticism, 1750-1950 #2

by René Wellek

The seventh volume of Rene Wellek's monumental history of modern criticism is a comprehensive, clearly written survey of the main currents of twentieth-century criticism in eastern Europe. A forthcoming, and final, volume will cover the same period in western Europe. In volume 7, as in the preceding six books of the series, Wellek expounds and analyzes the work of the most prominent critics, offering succinct appraisals of his subjects both as individuals and as participants in the broader movements of the century.

Genres: Literary Criticism

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1959

Reviews

[suso · Rating 5 out of 5]

sorprendente lo q uno llega a reirse cn las exposiciones d wellek (p.e. tieck o coleridge). ha sido una buena exposición, no puedo esperar a hacerme cn los otros 5 volúmenes🫠

[Felipe Oquendo · Rating 4 out of 5]

[My review refers to the Brazilian edition of the Book]

This second volume of the magum opus from René Wellek is a tour de force encompassing the first German Romantics (Schlegels) up to Hegel.

It is somewhat more interesting to the modern reader than the first volume, as some of the ideas conveyed by the authors cited in this book are still repeated in modern criticism - be it professional or amateur. From a standpoint of the history of ideas, this book is a must read, as it unveils, though never abandoning the literary criticism, some of the seeds of the modern world.

As with the first book, however, some of the details of the literary criticism and theory of the authors studied are rushed through and end up as semi-comprehensible at best (of course, this may have its roots on the extravagance of some points of view conveyed by the authors themselves). Also, I could detect some (slight) parti-pris concerning the German writers.

The book is most interesting when historical problems are properly placed and discussed (see e.g. the discussion about plagiarism in Coleridge's work, the phases of Vitor Hugo's thought, Madame de Stäel's influence and the chapter about Italian romantic critics). The downpoint is the exposition of the critical thought of the English critics - way too convoluted.

One of the best chapters is the one about Hegel (closely followed by the ones about Schleiermacher, Solger and Schoppenhauer), possibly because Wellek was more learned in the philosophy of German thinkers than the other authors'.