Romantic Returns: Superstition, Imagination, History

“...Deborah White superbly exemplifies the intellectual integrity that is required to confront the unresolved questions of literary theory.”—Studies in Romanticism

Romantic Returns explores the theorization and operation of “imagination” in pre-romantic and romantic writing. Drawing on the poetry and prose of William Collins, William Hazlitt, and Percy Bysshe Shelley, it shows the continuing importance of their understanding of imagination for contemporary debates about the historicity of literature.

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Drawing on the prose and poetry of William Collins, William Hazlitt, and Percy Bysshe Shelley, White (English and comparative literature, Columbia U.) explores the theorization and operation of imagination in pre-romantic and romantic writing. She takes issue with the view that romantic aesthetics is ideological, arguing that it is in fact critical, a reflective if problematic articulation of material conditions. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Deborah Elise White is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.