The return of the visible in British romanticism

Abstract

In this study, Galperin offers a revisionist reading of Romanticism that emphasizes the visible - as opposed to visionary - impulse in British Romantic poetry and prose. Employing a wide variey of theoretical insights, Galperin shows not only that the visual impulse is central to an understanding of Romanticism, but also that the Romantic preoccupation with the world seen forms an integral part of the pre-history of cinema. Galperin challenges the assumption that a single, hegemonic philosophy characterized the art and culture of high Romanticism. Instead, he argues, the culture of the period - both high and low - was a site of competing ideologies. From the poetry of Wordsworth and Byron to the painting of John Constable and Caspar David Friedrich to the pre-cinematic institutions of the panorama and the diorama, this book should lend new vigour to ongoing debates about the nature of Romanticism, 19th-century culture and the origins of cinema.