The Triumph of Imperfection
The Silver Age of Sociocultural
Moderation in Europe, 1815–1848
Virgil Nemoianu
In this sequel to his Harry Levin Prize–winning The Taming of Romanticism, Virgil
Nemoianu expands his survey of the intellectual and literary movement that swept
Europe in the early and middle decades of the nineteenth century to include rarely
studied paraliterary texts in historiography, travel writing, and religious exposition. With
The Triumph of Imperfection, Nemoianu traverses literary terrain beyond the canon to
gauge the impact of late romanticism’s moderate tone on the upheaval, revolution, and
agitation associated with the advent of the modern era. He suggests that writers and
scholars of the period 1815–1848 wielded tools of discourse in such a way as to integrate the new ideals of modernity peacefully and calmly into the normal evolution of
society.
Subverting the conventional approach to romanticism, Nemoianu argues for a
balance between works composed in Western and Central Europe. From this fresh
starting point, he analyzes texts from authors both remembered and forgotten, including
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, François Auguste-René de Chateaubriand, and Robert
Southey. He considers their approach to educational techniques, the aesthetics of
religion, and the interplay of history writing with fiction and contends that, in dealing
with the radical changes of their day, thinkers, writers, statesmen, and reformers of the
period sought a practical accommodation between the avalanche of revolutionary ideas
and the intellectual history that had shaped the past millennia. Nemoianu suggests that
at the center of this reconciliation was an acceptance of the notion of imperfection, of
partial victories, and of a deliberate search for moderation and balance.
Sure to spark scholarly debate, Nemoianu underscores the value and relevance of
the moderating influences he finds in romanticism for the intellectual and social questions facing the current century.
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Virgil Nemoianu is the William J. Byron
Distinguished Professor of Literature and
Ordinary Professor of Philosophy at the
Catholic University of America in
Washington, D.C., and has taught at the
Universities of Bucharest, California,
London, Cambridge, Cincinnati, and
Amsterdam. Nemoianu has written, edited,
or translated twenty books. He has received
Fulbright, Humboldt, and National
Endowment for the Humanities fellowships
as well as a lifetime achievement award
from the Romanian Cultural Institute.
THE TRIUMPH OF IMPERFECTION
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