Despite this after the first sixteen pages (ie chapter one) it was clear that this book is in fact is Here's me, Peter Gay, rambling on about Modernism for as long as I like, those youngsters at Yale University Press thought they had me tied down to write a book about the Romantics, but I showed them, I'm old so I can write what I like!. Starting on the second chapter entitled 'Romantic psychology' I thought to myself 'I appear to be under some mysterious misapprehension, for I am fairly sure that this book is called Why the Romantics matter' indeed since my memory isn't what it once was I looked at the front cover and there indeed were the words Why the Romantics matter. That old man probably wasn't Peter Gay, but they share the same attitude. Wow, what a weird little booklet! It reminds me very much of a story of my sister's - once upon a time, long ago and far way my sister worked in the bakery section of a certain national supermarket chain, one day she was at the counter serving customers when an old man wandered up, gestured towards the sticky buns and said 'I'll have three of those sticky willies' willie here meaning a slang and slightly childish term for the penis, rather than only a diminutive of William seeing my sister's discomfort writ large across her face, he laughed much amused and said 'I'm old, te-he, so I can say what I want' He concludes by demonstrating that romanticism extends well into the twentieth century, where its deep and lasting impact may be measured in the work of writers such as T. Gay conceives of romantics in “families,” whose individual members share fundamental values but retain unique qualities. Guiding readers through the history of the romantic movement across Britain, France, Germany, and Switzerland, Gay argues that the best way to conceptualize romanticism is to accept its complicated nature and acknowledge that there is no “single basket” to contain it. Who qualifies to be a romantic? What ties together romantic figures who practice in different countries, employ different media, even live in different centuries? How is modernism indebted to romanticism, if at all? He takes on the recurring questions about how to interpret romantic figures and their works.

Here, in this concise and inviting volume, he reformulates the definition of romanticism and provides a fresh account of the immense achievements of romantic writers and artists in all media. With his usual wit and élan, esteemed historian Peter Gay enters the contentious, long-standing debates over the romantic period.

A renowned scholar’s reflections on the romantic period, its disparate participants, and our unacknowledged debt to them

Peter gay