Writings

The nineteenth century abounds in nationally-minded proclamations, manifestos and other interventions in the public debate. Rhetorically, they usually link national culture, national character and national loyalty. Such rhetoric and discourse suffused public opinion at the time and was an indispensable factor in nationalist consciousness-raising; yet it is often neglected – or at best mentioned in passing – by social historians and literary historians alike – as the mere ambient "background noise" or ephemeral salestalk of national movements.

The SPIN website aims to gather such material and to highlight it as an instrumental part of nationalist consciousness-raising in nineteenth-century Europe.

Material now being prepared for posting includes:

– pamphlets and cultural criticism by Arndt, Jahn and other German nativists ("Altdeutsche" or "Deutschtümler") from the period 1805-1815
– materials on the Wartburg festivities of 1817 and other similar occasions
– activist publications surrounding the various 1830s revolutions
– journalism of the various "Young National" movements in the wake of Mazzini's Young Italy, e.g. Young Ireland
– documentation on the Germanistenversammlung of 1846 and 1847, and spin-off philological congresses in other countries such as the Netherlands and Flanders
– documentation on the Slavic Congress of 1848 and the Frankfurt Parliament of 1848

Users are invited to bring other relevant material to our attention.