‘Incorrigible Jacobins’: Hazlitt’s Engagement with German Literature

Oergel, Maike

Abstract

The fact that William Hazlitt engaged closely with contemporary German literature throughout his life has so far not received any detailed attention in Hazlitt research. The essay focuses on Hazlitt's assessment of German drama put forward in his third lecture series on Elizabethan drama, given in December 1819, and argues that his characterization of contemporary German drama as revolutionary and 'paradoxical' is intended to suggest to his audience that this kind of literature can function as a model for socially and politically progressive English literature. German literature's model function is facilitated by what Hazlitt outlines as the close kinship between the English and German literary traditions. Hazlitt's argument that German literature is revolutionary is informed by key ideas from German Sturm und Drang and German Romantic cultural theory, which he appears to draw from August Wilhelm Schlegel. Hazlitt's characterization of German literature as 'paradoxical', however, relies on his own definition of this term as describing possibly irresponsible, yet revolutionary effective, iconoclastic art and thought. This paradoxical quality of contemporary German literature derives, for Hazlitt, from its recent revolutionary heritage.

Citation

Oergel, M. (2020). ‘Incorrigible Jacobins’: Hazlitt’s Engagement with German Literature. Hazlitt Review, 13(1),

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 1, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020-12
• Deposit Date: Jun 17, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 31, 2020
• Journal: Hazlitt Review
• Print ISSN: 1757-8299
• Publisher: Hazlitt Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 1
• Keywords: Hazlitt, William; Schlegel, August Wilhelm; Herder, J.G.; Sturm und Drang
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4391217
• Related Public URLs: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/hazlitt-society/hazlitt-review