The pursuit of the sublime in post Romantic France
My thesis takes the notion of the sublime out of its usual Romantic context to look at what it can reveal about post-Romantic France. This is a period of rapid capitalist and urban development, often described as the age of the prosaic - an age of cliche, platitude and banality. It is also, however, a period in which Romantic aspirations survive: this is often accepted by critics in terms of literary projects, but less so in terms of broader social developments. I will use the notion of the sublime to trace the presence of these aspirations in post-Romantic discourses - across the supposed divide between literature and society. The first section of the thesis is a theoretical introduction to the notion of the sublime in Western philosophy, with a particular focus on its appropriation in France. It includes three chapters, the first of which looks at Longinus and Boileau, the second, Kant and Hegel, and the third, modem and postmodern theoretical perspectives. The aim of this section is both to frame the problems and questions that the sublime poses for French culture and literature, and present the critical concepts that I will bring to bear on readings of specific texts in the second part of the thesis. The
Jolly, Louise Yvonne
French culture
The pursuit of the sublime in post Romantic France. My thesis takes the notion of the sublime out of its usual Romantic context to look at what it can reveal about post-Romantic France. This is a period of rapid capitalist and urban development, often described as the age of the prosaic - an age of cliche, platitude and banality. It is also, however, a period in which Romantic aspirations survive: this is often accepted by critics in terms of literary projects, but less so in terms of broader social developments. I will use the notion of the sublime to trace the presence of these aspirations in post-Romantic discourses - across the supposed divide between literature and society. The first section of the thesis is a theoretical introduction to the notion of the sublime in Western philosophy, with a particular focus on its appropriation in France. It includes three chapters, the first of which looks at Longinus and Boileau, the second, Kant and Hegel, and the third, modem and postmodern theoretical perspectives. The aim of this section is both to frame the problems and questions that the sublime poses for French culture and literature, and present the critical concepts that I will bring to bear on readings of specific texts in the second part of the thesis. The
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