Description
Book SynopsisThe Romantic era in England and Germany saw a sudden renewal of prophetic modes of writing, arising from a new-found freedom of biblical interpretation. This text surveys developments in 18th-century biblical hermeneutics, culminating in close readings of works by Blake, Holderlin and Coleridge.
Trade Review"...a book to which scholars are likely to return frequently. Each chapter seems to follow the Keatsian maxim to load every rift with ore...[T]he richness of the book is finally one of its strengths, making it a storehouse of insights and ideas. Throughout, the readings are scrupulous, imaginative, and far-reaching. (The engagement with the performativity of romantic writing in Part II is especially rewarding.) With its scholarly range, critical acumen, and theoretical ambition,
The Rhetoric of Romantic Prophecy makes an important contribution to the study of Romanticism, textuality, and the prophetic word." -- South Atlantic Review
"This is a work of major significance, a study that will not only contribute substantially to our understanding of each of the authors Balfour addresses, but also will change the very field of play in Romantic studies. A brilliant reader of literary and philosophical texts, Balfour has with this book crafted a bold and compelling argument of genuine historical force that will, I believe, be regarded as a landmark study." -- Forest Pyle * University of Oregon *
" [
The Rhetoric of Romantic Prophecy] usefully recontextualizes some of the major poems and texts of the British and German Romantic movements by reminding us of the historical importance of biblical hermeneutics . . . [T]he book's most impressive accomplishment is to demonstrate the high philosophical, theological, and ideological states of arguments about voice, authority, and figurative language and thereby to recover for us a Romanticism that is not simply a thing of the past.
