Introducing Romanticism: A Graphic Guide (review)

The purpose of the ‘Introducing’ series of graphic guides is to offer a broad brushstroke induction into the study of a particular subject area. Concentrating on theoretical and political traditions, aesthetic movements and renowned thinkers, these guides serve as the ideal first port of call for the novice. Opening with a gloss of the medieval romance, and working its way through to the 1848 revolutions, the publication of The Communist Manifesto and beyond, this guide to Romanticism presents an impressively sweeping tour of its subject. Indeed, its main achievement lies in setting the keynote figures of popular imagination within the wider context of a developing, multi-faceted movement.

The guide covers the history of the Romantic movement, including its inheritance and development and the various conflicting and blurring strands within it. Romanticism is conceived of as the ‘problem child’ of the Enlightenment. Characterising the Romantic tradition in terms of its core artistic, philosophical, political and historical strands, the guide swiftly covers: the neoclassical and gothic; French, German and American Romanticism; the French and American revolutions; the sublime; solipsism; the first and second generation British poets; the philosophy of Kant and Hegel; the art of Constable and Turner; the music of Berlioz and Wagner; Orientalism; Marxism; and much more besides. Pursuing a broadly chronological path through these diverse areas, the book nonetheless forges links between related strands, and is able to flag-up connections and transformations within an evolving complex of competing philosophies and artistic traditions. Though necessarily simplified, the glosses given of these diverse, interweaving threads manage to avoid being reductive. The brief text devoted to each topic is concise and clear, and the comprehensive breadth of the book more than compensates for its inevitable lack of depth.

The pared-down text is supported by loosely drawn illustrations in which the key players of the movement are shown espousing pithily redacted versions of their core tenets via speech bubbles. This format makes for a very quick read. As well as aiming itself at the general reader, the text renders itself ideal for providing undergraduates with a clearer picture of Romanticism’s long game than is feasibly possible in an introductory lecture. In terms of setting out a larger context for the prominent players who tend to be the focus of undergraduate courses on Romanticism, this book functions as a sort of extended and reliable Wikipedia entry – which is intended as an entirely non-ironic recommendation. Although by no means a weighty and rigorous scholarly introduction this succinct and accessible guide functions best as a preface to more considered explorations of the various issues it raises.

There is a small gripe to be raised concerning the pictures (which are generally helpful, enabling brevity and enlivening the textual discussion), and it is to do with the lack of labelling throughout the book. Though the free, scratchy line drawings present sketches that are generally recognisable, the reader is usually dependent on the surrounding text for an indication of the identity of the characters under consideration. This is only ever a problem on the few occasions when there is more than one person discussed in the adjacent text, but it is potentially particularly confusing for the reader unfamiliar with the figures represented – which is surely precisely the reader addressed by a primer such as this. The lack of captioning is also frustrating when it comes to the occasional reproductions of paintings and engravings. Though artists’ names are usually (but not always) mentioned in the surrounding text, titles are less frequently present, and, more often than not, when an image is reproduced in support of an abstract idea (such as the ‘Egotistical Sublime’), neither is present. A list of illustrations would be a welcome addition, providing readers inspired to pursue a given idea with a helpful next step: as it is, if an image that is not directly discussed in the text provokes interest, the reader is rather left at a loss.

A second, perhaps overly picky, gripe about...