London-Paris Romanticism Seminar: Cian Duffy, 24 February 2023

The next meeting of the London-Paris Romanticism Seminar will take place on Friday 24 February 2023 in Room G4, Senate House, University of London, starting at 5.30pm. As our guest speaker, we are delighted to welcome Professor Cian Duffy of Lund University, Sweden, who will present a paper entitled Travelling North: British Romanticism and Denmark. This will be followed by a discussion and a wine reception, to which all are invited. The seminar will be chaired by Michael Simpson.

The event is free and open to everyone, including postgraduates and members of the public. No booking is required.

Cian Duffy is professor and chair of English literature at Lund University, Sweden. Born in Ireland, he previously taught at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, and the University of Copenhagen. He has published on various aspects of the intellectual life and cultural history of Britain and Europe during the Romantic period. Areas of special interest include: the Shelley circle, the sublime, science and literature, travel writing, and Romanticism in the Nordic countries. He is currently editing The Cambridge Companion to the Romantic Sublime (due 2023), and, with Anna Mercer, Mary and Percy Shelley’s History of a Six Weeks’ Tour for Oxford World’s Classics (due 2024).  His latest monograph, British Romanticism and Denmark, was published by Edinburgh University Press in 2022.

Regarding the subject of his talk, Cian writes:

“Cultural exchanges between Britain and Denmark played a significant but still understudied role in the development of Romanticism and Romantic nationalism in both countries during the early nineteenth century. This paper will begin by examining the seismic shift in Anglo-Danish relations triggered by the two British attacks on Copenhagen, in 1801 and 1807, and its impact on nationalist thought in both countries. It will then outline some key aspects of the literary exchange between Britain and Denmark in the second and third decades of the nineteenth century: the reception and influence of contemporary Danish literature in Britain and the reciprocal reception of British literature, especially Shakespeare, by Danish Romantics.”