National Romanticism: The Formation of National Movements

This is the second in a series of four volumes, presenting the most important texts that triggered and shaped the processes of nation-building in Central and Southeast Europe. The series aims to integrate the history of these cultures with that of general European civilization. Thus it counteracts the habit whereby European intellectual phenomena and historical movements are generally analyzed where they originated and experienced their earliest and most intensive development, while the peculiar manifestations of these currents in the 'Other Europe' are neglected.

The present collection focuses on the interplay of Romantic cultural discourses and the shaping of national ideology throughout the nineteenth century, tracing the patterns of cultural transfer with Western Europe as well as the mimetic competition of national ideologies within the region. 67 texts, including hymns, manifestos, articles or extracts from lengthy studies exemplify the impact of National Romanticism' on the cultural space ranging from Poland to the Ottoman Empire. Each excerpt is accompanied by a presentation of the author, and by an analysis of the context in which the respective work was born.