1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910634044803321

Autore

Gilroy John

Titolo

Romantics and the Era of Early Flight / / by John Gilroy

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2022

ISBN

9783031187728

9783031187711

Edizione

[1st ed. 2022.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (268 pages)

Disciplina

821.709

821.609145

Soggetti

Literature - History and criticism

Literature, Modern - 19th century

European literature

Science - History

Literary History

Nineteenth-Century Literature

European Literature

History of Science

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

1. Introduction -- 2. Origins -- 3. New Prospects -- 4. A Federation of the World -- 5. Air-Mindedness -- 6. Later Romantics – Keats and Shelley -- 7. Balloons, Romantics and Beyond -- 8. Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

This book explores the significance of flight to Romantic literature. Although the Romantic movement and the age of ballooning coincided, there has been a curious and long-time tendency to forget that flight was not impossible during this period. This study details the importance of this new technology to Romantic authors, primarily English Romantic poets. It combines accounts of the exploits and experiences of early balloonists with references to Romantic texts, using ballooning lore to illuminate a range of Romantic writings. The balloonists are seen as not just supplying these writers with a new code of metaphors, but as colleagues engaged in similarly imaginative



enterprises. The book uncovers an ‘aerial imagination’ shared by a large number of writers in the Romantic period that has its origins in the balloon adventures of the 1780s and following two decades. It will appeal to scholars and students of Romantic cultural history, as well as those interested in Romantic poetry andthe history of early aeronautics. John Gilroy was formerly a senior lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University and panel tutor at the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education, UK, where he served as a course director for many years.