Norbert Lennartz (editor) - The lost romantics : forgotten poets, neglected works and one-hit wonders

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This collection of essays is the fruit of a conference on the Lost Romantics held at the University of Vechta (Germany) in May 2017. In the convivial atmosphere of this small university (but also stimulated by walks through Bremen following in the footsteps of Robinson Crusoe who was allegedly inspired to feelings of pre-RomanticFernwehby this city), scholars from the United States, Canada, Britain, Italy, and Germany convened to re-consider and re-negotiate categories and canons of Romanticism, all dedicated to the project of uncovering some treasures of lost or marginalised Romanticism and demonstrating so impressively that academia is refreshingly beyond boundaries, backstops, arbitrary frontiers, absurd walls and national egotisms.

I am extremely grateful to all conference participants and contributors to the book that they so readily consented to be part of this international project and that in the dedication they showed in re-mapping the Romantic age they also shared and gave valuable insight into their vibrant academic cultures. My heartfelt thanks go to Ben Doyle at Palgrave who was immediately excited by the idea of the lost Romantics and to Camille Davies and Shaun Vigil who replaced Ben and took editorial care of the book thereafter. Without my assistants at the University of Vechta, my hard-working and ever-vigilant minions, Swantje van Mark and Leonore Sell, this book would never have taken the splendid shape that it now has. My deepest gratitude goes to them (and also the hope that they might have found some inspiration in the essays for their own promising academic work).

My pleasure in completing this book is, however, also mingled with sadness and grief at the loss of two highly esteemed scholars and friends. Following up his brilliant keynote lecture with an excellent proposal on Beddoes (on whom he was also a highly acclaimed specialist as he was on Shelley and many other poets), Michael ONeill was forced to postpone his work on this article on account of his ill health (and ongoing medical treatment); the shock of his untimely death in December 2018 thwarted the completion of an intriguing essay that would have fitted into the overall scope of the book perfectly. In February 2019, I was then informed about the sudden and tragic death of another well-known Romanticist, Rolf P. Lessenich, my supervisor and mentor from the University of Bonn. In line with his professional credo and lovable Prussian virtues, Rolf never missed deadlines and was duly one of the first to hand in his revised paper; his learned article on Nathan Drake is, thus, included in this collection of essays as one of his last and posthumous productions.

The loss of both of these eminent, erudite and gentlemanly scholars and friends unfortunately overshadows this project, and that is why the book is dedicated to their loving memory. Both Michael and Rolf will be sorely missed in all fields of Romantic studies.

Vechta

March 2019