Current Perspectives of Romanticism Studies | Theories, Methods, Readings

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Frederike Middelhoff
• Subject Area: German Literary and Cultural Studies (Modern German Literature) ; General and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies ; European and American Literary and Cultural Studies ; Art History
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 465040852

The interdisciplinary research network „Current Perspectives of Romanticism Studies | Theories, Methods, Readings” aims to distinguish and (re-)appraise the crucial theories, methods and objectives as well as the innovations and potentials of contemporary Romanticism Studies. Focusing on current and currently emerging approaches to the study of Romanticism, the goal of the network is to examine, differentiate and sharpen these approaches and present them in a monograph. The network asserts a triadic heuristic serving to account for the most relevant theoretical and methodological perspectives of the field: (1) qualitative-synthetic approaches (‘Theories of Romanticism and the Romantic’); (2) methods based on praxeological, cultural and a history of knowledge theories (‘Cultural Romanticism Studies’); (3) quantitative approaches (‘Digital Romanticism Studies’). While (1) qualitative and (2) cultural approaches to Romanticism have their own respective traditions and histories, (3) Digital Romanticism Studies, involving distant reading methods and digital representation of data, offers new possibilities to develop further and methodically enrich the two other strands of Romanticism Studies. The members of the network analyse, systematise and test the three approaches for a 21st-century Romanticism Studies. In this context, ‘Romanticism’ is examined, on the one hand, as a European phenomenon confronting the yet unfulfilled promises of enlightenment and the radical transformations on the threshold of modernity; on the other hand, forms of producing insights about European Romanticism will be reflected and evaluated from a history of science perspective. Apart from the publication which confronts the desideratum of a diagnosis and prognosis of an interdisciplinary European Romanticism Studies in the digital age, the network pursues two other major goals: First, the initiative develops a comprehensive digital bibliography recording research output from the late 20th century until the present. The ‘Living Bibliography of Romanticism Studies’ will be available and continually upgraded for research communities even after the funding period has expired. Second, the network conceptualises and implements a digital full text data base comprising digital copies and OCR scans of European Romantic texts (i.e. primarily texts related to fiction, art, aesthetics, natural sciences) benefiting future research inquiries. The network consists of postdocs and PhD candidates from the fields of literary and cultural studies, philosophy, religion and art history.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks