Romanticism: (Introductions to British Literature and Culture)

Introductions to British Literature and Culture provide practical guides to key literary periods. Guides in the series help to orientate students as they begin a new module or area of study, providing concise information on the historical, cultural, literary and critical context and acting as an initial map of the knowledge needed to study the literature and culture of a specific period. This accessible introduction to Romanticism and its contexts from 1780-1820 includes: - an overview of the historical, cultural and intellectual background including the romantic movement in culture, political upheaval, philosophy and religion and scientific development - a survey of the developments in key genres including discussion of major writers such as Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, Byron, Wollstonecraft, Hemans and Smith - concise explanations of key terms needed to understand the literature and criticism - a guide to key critical approaches - a chronology mapping historical events and literary works - guided further reading including websites and electronic resources.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction 2. Historical, Cultural and Intellectual Context 3. Literature in the Romantic Period 4. Critical Approaches 5. Further Resources for Independent Study Index

About the Author :
Sharon Ruston is Chair in Nineteenth-Century Studies in the School of English, Politics and Contemporary History at Salford University, UK. She is the author of Shelley and Vitality (Palgrave 2005).

Review :
'Sharon Ruston's Romanticism provides a detailed and comprehensive survey of the literature of the Romantic period and its social, historical and intellectual contexts. This study weaves from an impressive range of texts and histories a narrative of the writings of the male and females writers whose work we describe as engaging with that complex and contested term Romanticism. Alive to the social and political milieu in which Romantic period writers lived, work and thought, Ruston's study is an exemplary and attractive introduction to this fascinating period of literary endeavour.' Professor Peter J. Kitson, University of Dundee, UK 'Concept looks good ... I like the idea... they should do very well' 'this is a book which we would like our first years to have read - a guide which gives the information without which a student would be entirely at sea.' - Professor Lisa Hopkins, Sheffield Hallam University (from proposal) '[this] series offers both the student reader and teacher exciting and invaluable interventions in and reorientations around questions of history, culture, and period ... With brio, verve, and an admirable brevity, the series grounds our understanding of literature and culture in thought-provoking and highly original ways. ... an indispensible series that will set the benchmark for all such surveys and overviews.' - Julian Wolfreys, Professor of Victorian Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Florida.