Edinburgh University Press Radical Romantics: Prophets, Pirates, and the Space Beyond Nation (Edinburgh Critical Studies in Romanticism)

Radical Romantics is about utopias and failed utopias, about cities that are palimpsests, and about the unwieldy span of the ocean. From William Blake's visionary poetry to Lord Byron's Eastern romances, from prophetic pamphlets to travel narratives, texts of the Romantic era make use of imaginative spaces to reveal the contours and limits of territorial sovereignty. In doing so, they raise fundamental questions about our understanding of both territorial and imagined space. What are the means by which people can conceive of geographical space without resorting to the terms of nationalism? Is it possible to imagine a space beyond territory, as movement itself? How can we articulate the overlap between mapped and lived space? From the Back Cover *APPROVED* 'Radical Romantics offers an innovative approach to areas at the forefront of critical enquiry into Romantic-era writing. Its bold new stroke is to compare and contrast very different kinds of writing, usually viewed as unrelated, because they all disturb, disconfirm and undermine the languages of colonialism. One does not expect to find pirate narratives, visionary poems and prophecies in the same study, but Ford's book succeeds at throwing each into a new light by the unlikely juxtaposition.' Tim Fulford, De Montfort University Examines dissident conceptions of space in the British Romantic era Radical Romantics is a book about utopias and failed utopias, about cities that are palimpsests, and about the unwieldy span of the ocean. From William Blake's visionary poetry to Lord Byron's Eastern romances, from prophetic pamphlets to travel narratives, texts of the Romantic era make use of imaginative spaces to reveal the contours and limits of territorial sovereignty. In doing so, they raise fundamental questions about our understanding of both territorial and imagined space. What are the means by which people can conceive of geographical space without resorting to the terms of nationalism? Is it possible to imagine a space beyond territory, as movement itself? How can we articulate the overlap between mapped and lived space? Key Features - Engages with the critical frameworks of cultural geography, cartography and the burgeoning field of oceanic studies - Reformulates theories of colonisation and empire in the Romantic period - Puts canonical poetry in dialogue with travel tales and prophetic tracts Talissa Ford is an Assistant Professor of English at Temple University. Cover image: Cover design: [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com [please note new web address] ISBN 978-1-4744-0942-1 Barcode About the Author Talissa Ford is an Assistant Professor of English at Temple University.