Henry James and the Second Empire
Angus Wrenn
Studies In Comparative Literature 14•23 December 2008
- ‘The first sustained account of what are now regarded, fairly, as lesser writers of the Second Empire... and of their significance for James’s developing art. Wrenn offers an excellent analysis of the house journal for these writers, the Revue des deux mondes, a publication enthusiastically read by James.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 47.1, January 2011
Moving Scenes: The Aesthetics of German Travel Writing on England 1783-1830
Alison E. Martin
Studies In Comparative Literature 13•3 October 2008
- ‘A valuable and thoughtful study of aesthetic strategies in a genre in which their role is all too frequently overlooked... Martin is to be praised for the clarity of her exposition. She displays a thorough grasp of the key points at issue in the aesthetic debate of the period both in Germany and England (with occasional glances across to France), and gives due emphasis to the process of cross-fertilisation between the two countries through translation and travel.’ — Susan Pickford, German Quarterly 2009
- ‘This study is richly researched and engagingly written, with frequent references to contemporary developments in society, politics, science and technology, the visual and theater arts, historiography, and other literary genres. It has separate bibliographies of primary and secondary sources and an excellent index of names and terms. Martin is also a sensitive, resourceful translator and has provided the English for all German quotations, titles, and terms... Points the way for other scholars of the subject.’ — Michael Ritterson, Eighteenth-Century Studies 43.2, Winter 2010, 278-80
- ‘Textnah und detailreich untersucht A. E. Martin Strategien wirkungsästhetischer und rhetorischer Modellierungen in Englandreisen aus fünf Jahrzehnten.’ — Alexander Košenina, Germanistik 50, 2009, 278-79
- ‘In this fascinating new book, Alison Martin picks out six travelogues on England and makes the case that they deserve to be treated as ‘serious’ literature... The case studies are meticulously researched, and she places each text in context with reference to an impressive array of sources, from contemporary letters and reviews (English as well as German) to modern scholarly studies on art, political history, and even geology. Her close analyses of the texts themselves are lively and sophisticated... In the end, the book puts forward convincing arguments for the complexity and seriousness of this writing, and serves to remind us that the boundaries between genres are much more fluid than often supposed. As such, it should be of interest not only to scholars of travel writing but of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature and culture more generally.’ — Hilary Brown, Modern Language Review 105.2, 2010, 586-87 (full text online)
- ‘The six case studies presented in this volume have been meticulously researched and contextualised, and some of the research - especially that concerning Esther Gad and Carl Gottlieb Horstig - is highly original.’ — Angus Nicholls, Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen 247.162, 2010, 389-90
- ‘Martin is able to cover an impressive amount of ground, encompassing visual, oral and literary elements, as well as addressing key gender and socio-critical questions... The volume also constitutes a plea for the literary value of such travel narratives... It is this aspect in particular which makes this excellent volume stand out as an important and innovative contribution to European travel writing scholarship.’ — Carol Tully, Angermion 3, 2010, 207-10
Platonic Coleridge
James Vigus
Studies In Comparative Literature 15•23 December 2008
- ‘James Vigus's Platonic Coleridge gives a rigorous, scholarly, and fiercely lucid account of the complex, sometimes contradictory, dealings with Plato and the Platonic tradition that quicken Coleridge’s thought. This in itself would be enough to recommend it, but it has still more to offer. It explores more searchingly than any other book I know the issue that Vigus places at the centre of Coleridge’s thought, the question of the proper relationship between poetry and philosophy... This is at once an unusually sharply focused and an unusually suggestive book. It is a fine achievement.’ — Richard Cronin, Modern Language Review 105.1, January 2010, 220-22 (full text online)
- ‘Vigus's study makes an outstanding contribution. [...] This philosophy of process, rather than product, characterizes the more profitable side of Plato; it is the reward of getting to know him that Vigus makes available in what for me are the best parts of this enlightening study.’ — John Beer, The Coleridge Bulletin n.s. 34, Winter 2009
- ‘[A] prominent feature is the depth of scholarship. [...] Within the context of recent Coleridge scholarship as well as in the broader conversation about boundaries among disciplines, Platonic Coleridge is important. It explores a rare place, a place where the pathways of philosophy and poetry come together and, for a while, run parallel.’ — William C. Horrell, The Wordsworth Circle 40.4, Autumn 2009
- ‘Part of Legenda's excellent Studies in Comparative Literature series... Coleridge's response to his readings is clearly described and analysed in this well-written monograph, which should be of interest to all students of Coleridge and the reception of Platonic ideas in English literature.’ — William Baker, The Year's Work in English Studies 2011, 1086-87
- ‘Vigus’s central point within the volume is that Plato provided a central constructive influence upon Coleridge which has been underestimated by previous critics. ... [A]n exceedingly well crafted piece of philosophical interpretation... a wonderfully strong book which anyone interested in Coleridge’s philosophical writings will find fascinating.’ — Luke Wright, The Year's Work in English Studies 2010
- ‘This intelligent, enjoyable book is original and stimulating, and ought to help and challenge those scholars who see the poetic and the philosophical as mutually supportive aspects of Coleridge’s thought.’ — David Stewart, The Year's Work in English Studies 2010