What is Dark Romanticism?
The label Dark Romanticism is used by different people in different
contexts, to describe gothic novels from the 18th century as well as popmusic from the
60s and 70s.
The meaning of Dark Romanticism seems to vary. Apparently,
there is no exact, widespread
and unitary definition. First, we must notice that
Romanticism is not properly defined either. Some suggest that Romanticism was
a period when artists merely praised the Christian Lord. Others suggetst that
Romanticism must be felt - it can not be understood in any other way.
Baudelaire, the french dark romanticist wrote: "To
say the word Romanticism is to say modern art--that is, intimacy,
spirituality, colour, aspiration towards the infinite, expressed by every
means available to the arts." Others suggest that Romanticism
was a period when the market economy for the first time influenced authors.
A dictionary might help us to find some kind of definition.
-
romantic (roman'tik), a. pertaining to, of
the nature of or given to romance; imaginative, visionary, poetic,
extravagant, fanciful; fantastic, unpractical, chimerical, quixotic,
sentimental (of conduct etc.); wild, picturesque, suggestive of romance
(of scenery etc.); pertaining to the movement in literature and art
tending away from the moderation, harmonious proportion and sanity of
classicism towards the unfettered expression of ideal beauty and grandeur.
n. a romantic poet, novelist etc., a romanticist; a romantic
person; a person given to sentimental thoughts or acts of love.
-
dark [dahk], a. destitute of light;
approaching black; shaded; swarthy, brown-complexioned; opaque; gloomy,
sombre; (fig.) blind, ignorant; obscure, ambiguous; hidden,
concealed; without spiritual or intellectual enlightenment; wicked, evil;
cheerless; sad, sullen, frowning; unknown, untried (esp. used of a horse
that has never run in public). †v.i. to become dark, to be
eclipsed. v.t. to make dark; to obscure. n. darkness;
absence of light; night, nightfall; shadow, shade; dark tint, the dark
part of a picture; lack of knowledge; doubt, uncertainty.
-
romanticism [-sizm], n. the quality or state
of being romantic; the reaction from classical to mediaeval forms and to
the unfettered expression of romantic ideals which originated in Germany
about the middle of the 18th cent., and reached its culmination in England
and France in the first half of the 19th cent.
From the dictionary we understand that something darkly romantic might be both
sentimental and evil, visionary and blind, imaginative and hidden, gloomy and poetic,
unpractical and ignorant, unknown and extravagant, fantastic and sad. Dark Romanticism is obviously
a matter of contradicitons.
At this site, when discussed and analyzed, dark romanticisim is defined as
follows (my personal definition):
-
dark romanticism [dahk romantisizm], a movement in
literature, music, movies, comics etc. towards the unfettered expression of
the decadent natural world and the obscure supernatural world.
Authors, musicians and directors use their
imagination to depict decadence and obscurity. The characters in the novels,
songs and movies wander the earth alone,
abandonded by God. It is always winter and the obscure, supernatural world is
far away - hidden to the ambivalent human being. There are contant
interruptions and hesistations in maturation. I think these words by Dylan Thomas (thank you, Amanda, for this
contribution) is a suitable definition: "I hold a beast, an
angel, and a madman in me, and my enquiry is as to their working, and my problem
is their subjugation and victory, downthrow and upheaval, and my effort is their
self-expression."
The origin of Dark Romanticism
"The passions which belong to self-perservation turn,
on pain and danger; they are simply painful when their causes immediately
affect us; they are delightful when we have an idea of pain and danger,
without being actually in such circumstances;"
These words by Edmund Burke (Enquiry into the Origin of our
Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, see literature)
constitutes the theorethical background of the origin of Dark Romanticism.
Burke argued that pain and danger delights us more than pleasure when we are not immediately affected. These ideas inspired not only
philosophers and politicians, but also authors and artists. Personally I
think Dark Romanticism originated in the early 19th century, while the Gothic
originated earlier. Gothic and Dark Romanticism are not the same thing,
according to me. Gothic has became a subculture, with certain clothes and
attitudes, Dark Romanticism has not. Read more about this in the literature
page.
Fred Botting: "...a darker current within the Romantic
imaginations's visions of unity and transcendence...The
darker, agonised aspect of Romantic writing has heroes in the Gothic mould:
gloomy, isolated and sovereign, they are wanderers, outcasts and rebels
condemned to roam the borders of social worlds, bearers of a dark truth or
horrible knowledge, like Coleridge's Ancient Mariner. Milton's Satan or
Promotheus are transgressors who represent the extremes of individual passions
and consciousness. Blake's mythical creations, the tyrant Urizen and the
suffering Los, inhabit a violent world of fire and struggle. Drawing on the
anti-rational and mystical powers associated with a bardic romance tradition,
Blake's poetic mythology values liberty, especially of the imagination, above
any restraint, particularly of religious and political institutions. Byron's
heroes, and his own impersonation of the Byronic hero, passes the defiant energy
of a Gothic villain."
Dark Romanticism is often defined as a historical, literary
phenomenon. In the late 18th century, authors reacted against the Age of Enlightenment and it's blind
materialism and faith in reason. The artists reacted against
classicism and preached - in contrast to the Age of Enlightenment - feeling
and, imagination. Inbetween the Age of Enlightenment and the Romantic era, Burke wrote the
famous words. Horror and terror tales
became popular. Authors reacted against both classicism and the gothic novels.
They wrote about the tragic dimension of human life. The genre Dark
Romanticism was born. Famous names are Blake, Baudelaire, Poe and Stoker.
Dark Romanticism today
According to me, the Darkly Romantic era didn't end in the 19th
century. Dark Romanticism have been developing ever since and I therefor
believe that the discussion should be widened.
From being a purely literary phenomenon in the 19th century it has spread to other artistic fields
in the 20th century as movies
in the 20s (Nosferatu), comics
in the 30s (Batman) and music in
the 60s (Walker, Cohen).
Changing features, emphases and meanings disclose Dark Romantic
writing as a mode that exceeds genre and categories, restricted neither to a
literary school nor to a historical period. The problem (and one of the reasons for this site) is that
the Darkly Romantic movement is harder to distinguish today. Successors are
harder to find then predecessors. For several reasons.
First, Dark Romanticism has developed more as a
movement then as a delimited subculture. Gothic, on the
other hand, has developed to a club scene, for example. Dark
Romanticism is a movement in art - not a subculture. Gothic and Dark
Romanticism are sometimes supposed to be synonymous. According to me, they
shouldn't. Gothic horrrorstories surely constitutes an essential, influencing
part of the darkly romantic dawn - but still there are many other, perhaps more
important parts.
Second, the world is under constant change. Dark Romanticism originated
in a time dominated by wide-spread conceptions of beauty. Similar conceptions exists today
but surely different or perhaps
contradicting those 200 years ago. This is one reason why some
artistic movements are delimited to historic periods. But I think they shouldn't: artists
expressing modern romantic ideals, perhaps far from those in the
Romantic era, still belong in the same artistic movement, according
to me. And artists expressing romantic ideals that appear obscure belong in the
Dark Romantic
movement.
Third, Dark Romanticism hides within other movements. Modern
artists often express the need for something more than the reality
they know -
the lack of imagination in the world outside them torments them. Longing for the
obscure and the fantastic hides
within the sad tales of a bleak reality. Artists expressing
decadence have been apprehended as romantic and even visionary. A striking example is
the french musician Serge
Gainsbourg (in interviews he always said that women knew who he really
was). Within such contrasting relationships, Dark Romanticism
dwells.