Specific manifestations of pre-Romanticism in the works of Johannes Ewald (Levnet og meninger) and Laurence Sterne (The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman)
Abstract
In the initial section of the thesis, pre-Romanticism will be defined and its constitutive features will be introduced. Special focus will be placed on the specific variants of pre-Romanticism in Denmark and in Britain.
In the main body of the thesis, the autobiographic prose work of Johannes Ewald Levnet og meninger (Life and Opinions), written between 1774-78, will be analysed. The analysis will concentrate on the specific manifestations of pre-Romanticism in Ewald's work; the thesis will also strive to address the question of how Ewald's memoirs differ from "classic" pre-Romantic works.
From the same perspective, Ewald's novel will be compared with Laurence Sterne's The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759-67), which is typically considered a pre-Romantic novel.