Details

British Romanticism is part of European Romanticism and British writers drew inspiration
from personal and cultural links with mainland Europe as well as the many forms of
Continental travel. This international conference will explore the manifold relations between
Britain and Europe during the Romantic period, taking advantage of recent work on
transnational circulations and exchanges and a growing interest in comparative methodology.
The conference will question stereotypes of Great Britain as insular by highlighting the islandnation’s
European identity and its participation in a pan-European Romanticism shaped by
transnational cultural dialogue and the cross-fertilization of art forms and disciplines. The
aim is to uncover the channels and mechanisms by which Romantic ideas and influences were
conveyed across national and disciplinary boundaries and to examine the role of individuals,
communities and institutions in this complex transmission process. As well as directing
attention to the often-overlooked international dimension of British Romanticism, the
conference aims, by bringing together scholars working in Britain and on mainland Europe, to
help develop the expanding research network on European Romanticism. Held at Monte
Verità, an international conference centre in Ascona in the Swiss canton of Ticino which was
formerly the site of a utopian community attracting intellectuals from across Europe, the
conference will be divided between plenary lectures, invited panels, and open panel sessions.
There will also be a public round-table discussion on British Romanticism and the Italian Lakes,
as well as an excursion to Lake Como.

There will be nine invited panel sessions on the following topics: British Romanticism and
Italy, British Romanticism and Scandinavia, British Romanticism and France, European
Romantic Historicism, late Romanticism, travel and material culture, Romanticism and the
environment, Romantic women’s networks, and European Romanticism and / in Britain.