Elizabeth Della Zazzera

  • Fellowship year:2015-2016
  • University: University of Pennsylvania
  • Dissertation Topic/Category: Early Modern Europe
  • Dissertation Title: Romanticism in Print: Periodical Production and the Politics of Aesthetics in Restoration Paris, 1814-1830.
  • My dissertation, "Romanticism in Print: Periodical Production and the Politics of Aesthetics in Restoration Paris," examines the role of literary journals in the growth of romanticism in Paris between 1814 and 1830. It argues that the creation of romanticism as a genre, especially through its conflict with classicism, was a collaborative process that involved writers, printers, booksellers, readers, and institutions. The literary debates between classicists and romantics, with their conceptions of what was "French" and what was not, became entangled with political debates between liberals and royalists. Such disputes were publicized and crystalized in literary journals, which were both intellectual and commercial products. Through their debates about literature, these periodicals put forward proposals for how France should be remade in the wake of revolution and dictatorship, and so significantly shaped Restoration society.

    "Romanticism in Print" is a case study of an early modern power attempting to transition to a modern world, and it highlights the possibilities and conflicts characteristic of such liminal historical moments. By looking at the institutions of print in conjunction with the development of romanticism, this project expands our understanding of the relationship between business, culture, and politics, as well as the role of information, in the politically volatile-and understudied- Restoration France. There are a number of excellent studies on the literary marketplace and its connections to both politics and ideas, particularly for early modern France. There has been much less research on the nineteenth century, and very little on the Restoration, although it was characterized by new and important shifts in printing technologies, literary ideologies, commercial systems, and political practices.