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  3. The Italian Renaissance in the German Historical Imagination, 1860–1930
  • Cited by 16
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
October 2015
Print publication year:
2015
Online ISBN:
9781139583206
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139583206
Subjects:
Area Studies, History of Ideas, European History after 1450, History, European Studies, History of Ideas and Intellectual History
Series:
Ideas in Context (105)
Information

Book description

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Germany's bourgeois elites became enthralled by the civilization of Renaissance Italy. As their own country entered a phase of critical socioeconomic changes, German historians and writers reinvented the Italian Renaissance as the onset of a heroic modernity: a glorious dawn that ushered in an age of secular individualism, imbued with ruthless vitality and a neo-pagan zest for beauty. The Italian Renaissance in the German Historical Imagination is the first comprehensive account of the debates that shaped the German idea of the Renaissance in the seven decades following Jacob Burckhardt's seminal study of 1860. Based on a wealth of archival material and enhanced by more than one hundred illustrations, it provides a new perspective on the historical thought of Imperial and Weimar Germany, and the formation of a concept that is still with us today.

Reviews

'From Jacob Burckhardt and Friedrich Nietzsche to Thomas Mann, Ernst Kantorowicz and Hans Baron, the idea of the Renaissance has played an inspirational if contested role in the German cultural imagination. With great erudition and critical insight, Martin A. Ruehl traces the adventures of this idea, demonstrating its politics, complexities, and enduring appeal. Ruehl’s book is simply superb, a powerful specimen of intellectual history at its very best.'

Peter E. Gordon - Amabel B. James Professor of History, Harvard University, Massachusetts

'Martin A. Ruehl’s study is a model of modern intellectual history: accessible yet learned, soberly objective but politically astute, and focused on large cultural shifts without neglecting careful attention to nuance and detail. Thoughtfully illustrated and engagingly written, it will change how we think about ‘the Renaissance problem’ in the years between the Second and Third German Empires.'

Robert E. Norton - University of Notre Dame, Indiana

'[Ruehl's] book is recommended to anyone wishing to understand the trajectories of this fascinating area of intellectual history.'

Neil Gregor Source: The Art Newspaper

‘Martin A. Ruehl has written a lucid, intelligent and erudite study which, moreover, is beautifully illustrated.’

Henk de Berg Source: History Today

'Martin A. Ruehl opens his impressive study with two impressionistic vignettes that describe the respective journeys of Goethe and Thomas Mann to Italy and frame what he calls a ‘transformation in the German Geschichtsbild or historical imagination'. … tremendously compelling … This rich account of the diverse stages of the Renaissancebild opens new territory in intellectual history and promises a new perspective on the diverse political thinkers, who, at the time, were occupied with notions of political sovereignty, most notably Carl Schmitt. Furthermore, it offers a new perspective on a larger cultural obsession with the idea of the tyrant - and dictator - as intimately wed with our construction of modernity.'

Michael K. House Source: German History

'The legacy of the late Georg G. Iggers graces The Italian Renaissance in the German Historical Imagination, 1860–1930, Martin A. Ruehl’s elegant exploration of the German idea of the Renaissance from Jacob Burckhardt to Hans Baron. … The book’s lavish illustrations supplement the literary, textual approach with an evocative glimpse at neo-Renaissance art and architecture.'

Tuska Benes Source: The American Historical Review

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