The Genius and Romantic Madness

Romanticism -- Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837)

• Emerged in Germany and Britain in late 1790s, in France and Russia 1820s

• Rejected Neoclassicism, rationalism, imitation in art

• Privileged individual self-expression, sincerity, originality, emotional intensity and extremes

• Exalted creative imagination and individual, national genius

Prince Vladimir Odoevsky, 1803-1869

• Last descendent of first Russian Princes, Ruriks

• Philosopher, writer, pedagogue, philanthropist,music critic

• Most famous literary work Russian Nights, 1844

• Imitated German Gothic/Fantastic writers Hoffman and Tieck

Giambattista Piranesi, Italian architect

• Visualized ancient Rome from study of ancient ruin (fashion for ruins)

• Carceri d’Invenzione, 1749-1750, 1761

• Only one church built, S. Maria del Priorato

• Tremendous influence on Romantics and on modernist cinematic imagination

The Eternal/Wandering Jew• Legendary figure of Jewish

shoemaker (or Roman) who insulted Christ on road to Cavalry: as punishment must wander until Second Coming

• Biblical basis: Matthew 16:28• Metaphor for the Jewish Diaspora,

or allegory for anyone who has been made to see error of wickedness -- mocking of Passion epitomizes callousness of mankind

• Legend circulated throughout Middle Ages, first published in seventeenth century, became figure of Romantic literature in late eighteenth century

Discussion Questions for Odoevsky’s “The Third Night”

• Based on the narrator’s description of his bibliomania and Piranesi’s architectural mania, provide a clinical description of Romantic mania. What are its causes? What are its symptoms?

• What are the origins of Piranesi’s suffering? Are they psychological or social?

• What is the relationship of the philosophical epilogue to the story itself? Is Odoevsky using the story to make a point?

• What does the Carceri d’Invenzione symbolize in this story?