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 /
£26.95
Vol.
I. Late Enlightenment – Emergence of the Modern
'National Idea'
|
