Islam and Romanticism: Muslim Currents from Goethe to Emerson

Revealing Islams formative influence on literary Romanticism, this book recounts a lively narrative of religious and aesthetic exchange, mapping the impact of Muslim sources on the Wests most seminal authors. Spanning continents and centuries, the book surveys Islamic receptions that bridge Romantic periods and personalities, unfolding from Europe, to Britain, to America, embracing iconic figures from Goethe, to Byron, to Emerson, as well as authors less widely recognized, such as Joseph Hammer-Purgstall.

Broad in historical scope, Islam and Romanticism is also particular in personal detail, exposing Islams role as a creative catalyst, but also as a spiritual resource, with the Quran and Sufi poetry infusing the literary publications, but also the private lives, of Romantic writers. Highlighting cultural encounter, rather than political exploitation, the book differs from previous treatments by accenting Western receptions that transcend mere Orientalism, finding the genesis of a global literary culture first emerging in the Romantics early appeal to Islamic traditions.