Techno-Prosthetic Romantic FuturismOrganic DecayOf course there are Romanticisms. I think we should eschew the kind associated with Wordsworth and the whole Lake School phenom. [1] The problem there is the politics of organicism. It's impossible as far as I can see to deny or confound the work it's done to consolidate nationalism, imperialism, and even racism. [2] National identity arises organically from a common stock of uncommon worth, or so the story goes. Wordsworth's "Man speaking to men" is English. Could he ever be Equiano? Notes1. Perhaps we have, albeit for the wrong reasons. Does anyone ever read Myer Abrams any more? See Natural Supernaturalism (New York: Norton, 1971). 2. Although he feels differently about Wordsworth than I do, Saree Makdisi heads in this direction. See Romantic Imperialism: Universal Empire and the Culture of Modernity (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998). Navigation |