The Roots of Romanticism Review

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The Roots of Romanticism Review"The Roots of Romanticism" is the 1999 edition of a series of six lectures given by Isaiah Berlin at the National Gallery, Washington DC, in 1965. Towards the end of his life, Berlin, who died in 1997, was working on a book on Romanticism. The book was never completed. Nevertheless, Berlin's extant writings on Romanticism can be found in any number of essays scattered throughout his various books. So,...why this book? This book brings everything together in a lively and intensive treatment of the subject--with many "new" things to say. The lectures are riveting, engrossing, mesmerizing to read. Indeed, the reading is so good that one listens for--and hears!--the voice of Isaiah Berlin delivering these spellbinding lectures.
But why bother? Why bother reading--or listening to--old lectures? by an old man? about old ideas? Who wants it? Who needs it? Who has time for all that stuff? The very act of reading dispels such foolish questions. This is one of the best and most important books I have ever read. The reading is enthralling. The ideas are dazzling. And the subject is vital. Romanticism--"the greatest single shift in the consciousness of the west"--is alive today: flowing through our times, our world, our selves.
But Berlin is no Romantic. He is an historian of ideas. Or, if you like, a sort of intellectual spy: one who goes behind enemy lines, probes, investigates, gets inside the skin of the foe--and almost takes his side! (but not quite). To open this book is to open the door to such a spy. To read it is to debrief him. His report is facinating:
"We are children of both worlds. On one hand, we are heirs to Romanticism, because Romanticism broke the great single mould [of] the 'philosophia perennis.' We are products of certain doubts--we cannot tell...we oscillate between the two." This is my favorite passage in the entire book. I like its dualism, its ambivalence, dynamism, doubt, willingness to live with question marks--without insisting upon periods, or even calling for complete sentences. This is Berlin at his best. Berlin at his worst is another matter, much more rare, as when he concludes that Romanticism arose from a feeling of "sour grapes." That is like saying Solzhenitsyn kept crying over "spilled milk." But this is no place to take up such a dispute. Instead, let me try to distill what Berlin is saying:
The roots of Romanticism are buried deep in German soil, in the Lutheran pietist movement, in the writings of its spokesman--J. G. Hamann (1730-88). It was Hamann who "struck the most violent blow against the Enlightenment and began the whole Romantic process, the whole process of revolt." Thus, Romanticism began as a rebellion against the Enlightenment.
The Enlightenment preached that truth was universal, that knowledge was virtue, and that the only way to know the truth--about anything!--was to apply the methods of science and reason. Everything was knowable. Gaps in knowledge would be filled in--sooner or later--by the progress of science and reason. The laws of human nature could be discovered by these same methods. Such laws apply equally to all. They are the same for everyone--no matter who, no matter where, no matter when. They are universal, eternal, absolute. The right way to live was to find these hidden laws--by means of science and reason--and obey them. This is "the great single mould [of] the 'philosophia perennis,'" which Romanticism broke.
But what is Romanticism? It is will! One is not determined. One determines. Romanticism is not reasonable compliance with universal laws of human nature. It is bold forging through the external world--to make one's own way--according to the dictates of one's own free will. It is making free with whatever gets in one's way. It is not knowledge, but action. Not calculation, but desire. Not reason, but assertion. Not science, but self. And as for truth--scientific truths are of no moment; all that matters is that one be true to oneself.
But I oversimplify. To hear the whole story, to see the whole picture, you need to read the book: a crisp 150-page tour de force on the roots of Romanticism.The Roots of Romanticism Overview

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