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Discourses of Collective Identity in Central and Southeast Europe 1770–1945 Vol. II.

National Romanticism


The Formation of National Movements


The editors:
Balázs Trencsényi is Assistant Professor of History at the Central European University, Budapest.
Michal Kopecek
is Research Fellow at the Institute of Contemporary History, Prague.

This is the second of the four-volume series, a daring project of CEU Press, presenting the most important texts that triggered and shaped the processes of nation-building in the many countries of Central and Southeast Europe. 67 texts, including hymns, manifestos, articles or extracts from lengthy studies exemplify the relation between Romanticism and the national movements in the cultural space ranging from Poland to the Ottoman Empire. Each text is accompanied by a presentation of the author, and by an analysis of the context in which the respective work was born.
The end of the 18th century and first decades of the 19th were in many respects a watershed period in European history. The ideas of the Enlightenment and the dramatic convulsions of the French Revolution had shattered the old bonds and cast doubt upon the established moral and social norms of the old corporate society. In culture a new trend, Romanticism, was successfully asserting itself against Classicism and provided a new key for a growing number of activists to 're-imagine' their national community, reaching beyond the traditional frameworks of identification (such as the 'political nation', regional patriotism, or Christian universalism). The collection focuses on the interplay of Romantic cultural discourses and the shaping of national ideology throughout the 19th century, tracing the patterns of cultural transfer with Western Europe as well as the mimetic competition of national ideologies within the region.

Contents

Introduction Miroslav Hroch: National Romanticism; Chapter I Historicizing the Nation: Images of the Past, Continuity into the Present; Chapter II Spirit of the Nation: Folklore, Language, Religion; Chapter III Nationalization of the Space; Chapter IV The Nation and its Neighbors in Europe: Regional Perspectives; Chapter V National Heroism: Revolution and Counter-Revolution

"The collection does an admirable job of addressing multiple audiences. One could imagine these texts being used to great effect in an undergraduate course and, although the contexts would likely be too dense for students at this level, they would make the volume well suited to a graduate course. The series could just as easily be used by scholars well-versed in the intellectual history of one or more of the areas represented who are looking to broaden the context of their understanding." - Slavic and East European Journal

"Discourses of Collective Identity bietet eine eindrucksvolle Lektüre und sei auch solchen Lesern empfohlen, die sich jenseits der ostmittel-, südosteuropäischen Area Studies für Nationalismusforschung interessieren. Für jene Regionalstudien bedeutet er einen gewichtigen Versuch, das Feld für eine kritische Ideengeschichte zurückzugewinnen, nachdem besonders für Südosteuropa ethnologisch-anthropologische, kultur- und sozialgeschichtliche Fragestellungen in letzter Zeit eine dominierende Stellung einnehmen." - H-Soz-u-Kult

2007
513 pages
ISBN 978-963-7326-60-8 cloth $49.95 / €38.95 / £33.00


Vol. I. Late Enlightenment – Emergence of the Modern 'National Idea'

Vol. III/1 Modernism – The Creation of Nation States

Vol. III/2 Modernism – Representations of National Culture

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