Literary romance - information, characteristics and authors - everyday terms (2023)

We explain what literary romance is, its origin, moment of its appearance and features. Also their most important authors and works.

What is literary romance?

in the history ofliterature, is known as Romanticism or as the literature of Romanticism, aone of the most important literary movements in modern Europe, originating in Germany around 1770and then became popular in the rest of the continent and its American colonies by the mid-19th century.

It is evidently the literary variant of a much larger aesthetic and philosophical movement, Romanticism, which arose in the 18th century as a revolutionary reaction against the dominant currents of Enlightenment and Neoclassicism and their values ​​of rationality. , universality and realism.

as in the otherletters, Romance in Literaturedecided to increase feelings, folk and folk stories, the originality of artistic genius and a tragic attitude towards life.

It is important that "romantic" in this sense does not necessarily have to do with "love" as we understand it today. This last sense was actually imposed after the decline of the Romantic movement at the end of the 19th century.

Characteristics of literary romance

Literary Romanticism was characterized by the following:

• He valued the artist's inspiration and subjectivityas the origin of literary production, for which it offered its writers a wide degree of freedom, in contrast to the rationalistic and more restrictive literature of the Enlightenment.
• Addressed issues of national and popular imagination, such as legends and folklore, but also medieval and Graeco-Latin myths, often favoring a pre-industrial, often rural or rural imagery.
• In the field of poetry, lyricism dominated.and sentimental motifs (which does not mean that it was always about love) and thus the "lyrical I" emerged.
• Nationalism appears as a strong feelingin romantic literary works - love of folk tradition, country and people. In relation to religion, a Christian vision is imposed.
• The subject of the deceased loved one was commonwith most poets and writers.

Origin of literary romance

The literary romanticism had its beginnings inpre-Romantic German literature, the greatest representative of which was Johannes Wolfgang von Goethe(1749-1832).

On the second placeits first manifestations are in motionstorm and stress (“Storm and Swing”) in the mid-18th century, in which several artists and writers gave themselves full freedom of expression to explore their inspirations and subjectivities, taking feeling rather than rationality as a source of inspiration.

From Germany, Romanticism spread to other European nations and produced very important literary references in England, France and Spain, and then also in Tsarist Russia. He later continued in America, adding important names in the United States and Latin America, particularly in Colombia, Cuba, Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela.

Authors and works of literary romance

Some of the names most associated with literary romanticism and his most outstanding works are the following:

• Novalis (1772-1801). Pseudonym of Georg Phillip Friedrich von Hardenberg, was a German writer and philosopher of the early Romantic period, famous for hishymns in the nightand your romanceHeinrich von Ofterdingen. His work is fundamentally poetic and belongs to the so-called "magical idealism".
• Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805). German poet, dramatist, philosopher and historian, is considered the greatest dramatist in Germany alongside the pre-Romantic Goethe. He is considered one of the most important voices of the bourgeoisie at the time of its upheavalabsolutisminto post-revolutionary life, and many of his works have inspired other German and foreign artists and musicians. Amid all of this, the dramas stand out.The Maid of Orleans,Guillermo TelljDom Carlos, as well as a diverse essay work.
• Federico Hölderlin (1770-1843). The German novelist and poet, translator and student of philosophy joined not only Romanticism, but also the Idealist movement. His most famous works areHyperion or the Hermit of Greece,The death of Empedoclesjthe archipelago.
• Jörg Büchner (1813-1837). Playwright and prose writer of German nationality who, had he not died so young, might have had the fame and esteem of Schiller and Goethe. His theatrical works are represented all over the world, the most famous beingDantons TodjWoyzeck.
• John Keats (1795-1821). British romantic poet whose work was despised during his lifetime and later highly esteemed. Keats felt throughout his life that his work was overshadowed by the poets of the past, and it was only when he was near death that he was able to produce his best work, includingThe merciless pretty lady,Oda has the physique,Lamia and Other Poems,Ode to a NightingalejOde to a Greek Urn.
• Henrique Heine (1797-1856). One of the greatest German essayists and poets of the 19th century, who was considered the last poet of Romanticism and put an end to it. He was a militant utopian socialist who was persecuted by the authorities and exiled at the end of his life. His most famous works includeTravel photos,The ballad,to the romantic schooljFlorentine nights.
• Victor Hugo (1802-1885). A romantic poet, playwright and French novelist, he is considered one of the great names in French literature, as well as a major politician and intellectual of his time. He is the author of such well-known and admired works asThe miserable,our lady of paris,the man who laughs, and many poems and plays.
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). Poet, critic and philosopher of English origin, he was one of the founders of Romanticism in Britain, along with William Wordsworth. He was one of the so-called Lakist poets of the early 19th century and his most famous works areBallad of the Old Sailor,Kubla Khanjkristinabel.
• Guillermo Wordsworth (1770-1850). One of the most important English Romantic poets, alongside Coleridge, was the author of one of the poetic works that the movement spread across the country:lyrical balladsfrom 1798. His poetry was highly innovative, seeking a simple, immediate and everyday approach.LanguageTell the life of ordinary people. Other of his famous works werethose Night Meditationsit's himOde written in a farm cemetery.
• Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837). Poet, philosopher, philologist and translator of Italian origin, he is the greatest exponent of Romanticism in that country. His work, marked by deep pessimism, clings to poems such ascorners,for the Italiansare approximatelyMoral Notebooks.
• Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). American novelist, poet and critic known for his detective work and mysteries which have made him one of the greatest short story cultists in the world. He was a gothic novel awakener and, despite his early demise, many of his works are legendary, such asthe revealing heart,The crimes of the morgue,The pit and the pendulum,the stolen letterÖthe early burial, among many others.
• Gustavo Adolfo Becquer (1836-1870). Spanish poet and storyteller of the late romantic era, also associated with the post-romantic era, whose fame he achieved after his death. His most famous workrhymes and legends, is a popular classic of Hispanic literature.
• Jose Maria Heredia (1803-1839). Considered America's first romantic poet and one of the greatest of the Spanish language, the Cuban author has also worked as a judge, lawyer, translator, novelist, playwright, soldier and politician. His extensive poetic work is just as famous and well-known as his dramas.attract,SheÖThe Last Romans.
• Jorge Isaacs (1837-1895). A Colombian writer and poet who lived during the consolidation of the Republic of Colombia, he is the author of a brief but seminal work on the continent, composed of an 1864 collection of poems and his novelMariaab 1867.