This is the first English-language anthology to provide a compendium of primary source material on the sublime. The book takes a chronological approach, covering the earliest ancient traditions up through the early and late modern periods and into contemporary theory. It takes an inclusive, interdisciplinary approach to this key concept in aesthetics and criticism, representing voices and traditions that have often been excluded. As such, it will be of use and interest across the humanities and allied disciplines, from art criticism and literary theory, to gender and cultural studies and environmental philosophy. The anthology includes brief introductions to each selection, reading or discussion questions, suggestions for further reading, a bibliography and index – making it an ideal text for building a course around or for further study. The book’s apparatus provides valuable context for exploring the history and contemporary views of the sublime.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments: Sources Acknowledgments Note on the Texts Editor’s Introduction Part I. Ancient 1.Longinus, from On Sublimity 2.Bharata-Muni, from Na?yasastra Part II. Postclassical 3.Guo Xi, from The Interest of Lofty Forests and Springs 4.Zeami Motokiyo, “Notes on the Nine Levels” 5.Francesco Petrarca, “The Ascent of Mont Ventoux” Part III. Modern 6.Nicolas Boileau Despréaux, from “Preface to his Translation of Longinus On the Sublime” 7.John Dennis, from The Grounds of Criticism in Poetry 8.Giambattista Vico, “On the Heroic Mind” 9.Edmund Burke, from A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful 10.Moses Mendelssohn, from “On the Sublime and Naive in the Fine Sciences” 11.Elizabeth Carter, from Letters from Mrs. Elizabeth Carter to Mrs. Montagu 12.Immanuel Kant, from Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime 13.Anna Aiken (Anna Letitia Barbauld), “On the Pleasure Derived from Objects of Terror” 14.Mary Wollstonecraft, from A Vindication of the Rights of Men 15.Immanuel Kant, from Critique of the Power of Judgment and Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View 16.Friedrich Schiller, “Of the Sublime (Toward the Further Development of Some Kantian Ideas)” 17.Anna Seward, Letter to Rev. Dr. Gregory 18.Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolfo: A Romance 19.Helen Maria Williams, from A Tour in Switzerland Part IV. Late Modern 20.William Wordsworth, “The Sublime and the Beautiful” 21.Mary Shelley, from Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus 22.Arthur Schopenhauer, from The World as Will and Representation 23.Georg W. F. Hegel, “Symbolism of the Sublime” 24.Richard Wagner, from “Beethoven” 25.Friedrich Nietzsche, from The Birth of Tragedy, Joyful Wisdom, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra 26.Rudolf Otto, from The Idea of the Holy Part V. Contemporary 27.Barnett Newman, “The Sublime is Now” 28.Julia Kristeva, from Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection 29.Fredric Jameson, from “Postmodernism, or the Logic of Late Capitalism” 30.Jean-François Lyotard, “The Sublime and the Avant-Garde” 31.Meg Armstrong, from “‘The Effects of Blackness’: Gender, Race, and the Sublime in Aesthetic Theories of Burke and Kant” 32.Cynthia A. Freeland, “The Sublime in Cinema” 33.Arthur Danto, “Beauty and Sublimity” 34.Vladimir J. Konecni, “The Aesthetic Trinity: Awe, Being Moved, Thrills” 35.Jane Forsey, “Is a Theory of the Sublime Possible?” 36.Sandra Shapshay, “Commentary on Jane Forsey’s ‘Is a Theory of the Sublime Possible?’” 37.Robert R. Clewis, “Towards A Theory of the Sublime and Aesthetic Awe” 38.Emily Brady, “The Environmental Sublime” Chapter Summaries Bibliography Index Illustrations 1.Guo Xi, Early Spring, 1072 2.Barnett Newman, Onement I, 1948 3.Barnett Newman, Vir Heroicus Sublimis, 1950-1951 4.Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, c. 1817