Henry Crabb Robinson (1775–1867) earned his place in literary history as a perceptive diarist from 1811 onwards. Drawing substantially on hitherto unpublished manuscript sources, this book discusses his formal and informal engagement with a wide variety of English and European literature prior to this point. Robinson emerges as a pioneering literary critic whose unique philosophical erudition underpinned his activity as a cross-cultural disseminator of literature during the early Romantic period.
A Dissenter barred from the English universities, Robinson educated himself thoroughly during his teenage years and began to publish in radical journals. Godwin’s philosophy subsequently inspired his first theory of literature. When in Germany from 1800 to 1805, he became the leading British scholar of Kant, whose philosophy informed his discussions of Goethe, Schiller, Lessing, and August Wilhelm Schlegel. After his return to London, Robinson aided Hazlitt’s understanding of Kant and, thus, Hazlitt’s early career as a writer. His distinctive comparative criticism further enabled him to draw compelling parallels between Wordsworth, Blake, and Herder, and to discern ‘moral excellence’ in Christian Leberecht Heyne’s Amathonte. This also prompted Robinson’s transmission of Friedrich Schlegel and Jean Paul in 1811, as well as a profound exchange of ideas with Coleridge. In this new study, Philipp Hunnekuhl finds that Robinson’s ingenious adaptation of Kantian aesthetic autonomy into a revolutionary theory of literature’s moral relevance anticipated the current ‘ethical turn’ in literary studies.
'The study of Romantic criticism has gained new dimension with Philipp Hunnekuhl’s stunning exposition of Henry Crabb Robinson’s early reviews, essays, and translations. Robinson wrote with profound insight into Kantian transcendentalism, attended Schelling’s lectures, and even met with Goethe. Hunnekuhl demonstrates how Robinson established himself as the first true comparatist among the Romantic critics.'
Frederick Burwick, Emeritus Professor at the University of California Los Angeles
'The genre of Hunnekuhl's superbly researched monograph is hard to pin down: it is a historical as well as a biographical work that is simultaneously a study of the development of Romantic philosophy and the study of a genuinely Romantic theory of literature that combines German aesthetic autonomy and English political ethics. What is more, Hunnekuhl unearths archival material – manuscripts such as letters and diaries – and makes it available in an appendix. Thus, this important study provides material for future investigations of early 19th-century literature at the same time that it paints a complex picture of the way that key cultural concepts are generated and disseminated in the period of European Romanticism.'
Ralf Haekel, Anglistik
'This monograph uses Robinson’s extensive published works to unpick the influence he had on his contemporaries and further into the nineteenth century. Through the study of an author whose interests bridged languages, this is an exceptional case study of comparative literature. This monograph leaves us excitedly awaiting future opportunities to continue exploring the complexities of not just Robinson’s critical role as literary intermediary and disseminator in the Romantic period, but also comparative literature studies.'Charlotte May, The Charles Lamb Bulletin
'Henry Crabb Robinson’s diary, 1811–67, is familiar terrain for British and German Romantic scholars. Philipp Hunnekuhl’s goal in Henry Crabb Robinson, Romantic Comparatist is instead to review Robinson’s life and work in the years 1790 to 1811, thereby retracing Robinson’s emergence as a comparatist and his formative impact on British and German Romantic authors. This task covers Robinson’s publications and manuscripts as well as his social interactions.'John Claiborne Isbell, European Romantic Review