ROMANTICISM

1. Characteristics

a. An interest in the emotional over the rational
b. An interest in exotic places
c. An interest in nationalism
d. A view of nature as a conscious "force"
e An interest in the "noble" savage, the "natural" man

2. Romanticism vs. Neoclassicism

a. Neoclassicism believed in a hierarchy of styles. Romanticism mixed styles and genres.
b. Neoclassicism imitated ancient Greece and Rome. Romanticism was contemptuous of imitation.
c. Romanticism was determined to liberate Russian culture from slavish imitation of European models.
d. National originality is indispensable to Russian
Romanticism

3. Literature of Romanticism

a. Literature ascends to dominant postition in Russian culture.
b. Writer viewed as a prophet whose duty is to tell the truth.
c. Non-Russian settings become popular: Italy, the Caucasus, Central Asia.
d. The writer is an alienated individual who faces society alone.
e. New man; distant, cruel, insensitive to others.
f. Difference in genres: from ode and epic to Lyric poetry and then prose.

4. Romanticism and Painting

a.Tended towards landscapes, historical subjects, and views of Russian countryside, Italy a favorite (exotic)