Free access to the past : romanticism, cultural heritage and the nation / / edited by Lotte Jensen, Joep Leerssen, and Marita Mathijsen.

• Superior document: National cultivation of culture ; v. 2
• TeilnehmendeR: Jensen, Lotte, 1972-; Leerssen, Joseph Th. 1955-; Mathijsen, Marita.
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: National cultivation of culture ; v. 2.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (364 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

Throughout Europe, nostalgia and modernization embraced around 1800: the rise of historicism coincided with the emergence of the modern nation-state. Poetical, cultural changes intersected with political, institutional ones: a Romantic taste for medieval or tribal antiquity benefited from a modernization-driven transfer of cultural relics into the public sphere. This process involved the establishment of museums, libraries, archives and university institutes, as well as the dissemination of historical knowledge through text editions, philological studies, historical novels, plays, operas and paintings, monuments and restorations. Antiquaries, philologists and historians produced a new past and rendered history a matter of public, national interest and collective identification. This international and interdisciplinary collection explores the romantic-historicist complexities at the root of the modern nation-state. Contributors are Ellinoor Bergvelt, Eveline G. Bouwers, Peter Fritzsche, Paula Henrikson, Sharon Ann Holt, Lotte Jensen, Krisztina Lajosi, Joep Leerssen, Susanne Legêne, Marita Mathijsen, Mathias Meirlaen, Peter Rietbergen, Anne-Marie Thiesse, and Robert Verhoogt.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material / L. Jensen , J. Leerssen and M. Mathijsen-Verkooijen -- Introduction / Joep Leerssen -- The Melancholy Of History: Disenchantment And The Possibility Of Narrative After The French Revolution / Peter Fritzsche -- The Emancipation Of The Past, As Due To The Revolutionary French Ideology Of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité / Marita Mathijsen -- Modernising The Past: The Life Of The Gauls Under The French Republic / Anne-Marie Thiesse -- From Bökendorf To Berlin: Private Careers, Public Sphere, And How The Past Changed In Jacob Grimm’s Lifetime / Joep Leerssen -- Public Commemorations And Private Interests: The Politics Of State Funerals In London And Paris, 1806–1810 / Eveline G. Bouwers -- Inventing Literary Heritage: National Consciousness And Editorial Scholarship In Sweden, 1810–1830 / Paula Henrikson -- Literature As Access To The Past: The Rise Of Historical Genres In The Netherlands, 1800–1850 / Lotte Jensen -- Free Access To The History Of Art: Art Reproduction And The Appropriation Of The History Of Art In Nineteenth-Century Culture / R.M. Verhoogt -- Potgieter’s ‘Rijksmuseum’ And The Public Presentation Of Dutch History In The National Museum (1800–1844) / Ellinoor Bergvelt -- Singing Of Conquest? Opera, History, And The Ambiguities Of European Imperialism / Peter Rietbergen -- Nineteenth-Century National Opera And Representations Of The Past In The Public Sphere / Krisztina Lajosi -- ‘Reaping The Harvest Of The Experiment?’ The Government’s Attempt To Train Enlightened Citizens Through History Education In Revolutionary France (1789–1802) / Matthias Meirlaen -- The Past As A Place: Challenging Private Ownership Of History In The United States / Sharon Ann Holt -- Impressed Images/Expressed Experiences: The Historical Imagination Of Politics / Susan Legêne -- Bibliography / L. Jensen , J. Leerssen and M. Mathijsen-Verkooijen -- Index / L. Jensen , J. Leerssen and M. Mathijsen-Verkooijen.