A01=Charlotte Xiaoqian Cai
aesthetic theory
Author_Charlotte Xiaoqian Cai
Category=AF
Category=DC
Category=DSBF
Category=DSC
Christina Rossetti
Dante Gabriel
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eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
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eq_non-fiction
eq_poetry
Femme Fatale
gender and identity studies
Monna Innominata
poetic philosophy
Pre-Raphaelite movement
religious symbolism
Romantic idealism
synthesis of matter and spirit in Victorian art
The House of Life
Victorian art
Victorian intellectual history
Victorian poetry
Product details
- ISBN 9781041198321
- Weight: 600g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 17 Apr 2026
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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This groundbreaking study reveals how the Rossetti siblings revolutionized Victorian conceptions of selfhood through a sophisticated dialectic that transcends conventional binaries – matter and spirit, sacred and secular love, strength and vulnerability, divinity and depravity. While their contemporaries remained trapped in Victorian doubleness, Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti boldly negotiated these opposing forces, creating a radical new synthesis that challenges our understanding of 19th-century thought. Their extraordinary fusion of matter and spirit – a deliberate departure from Victorian orthodoxy – resurrects a profound intellectual tradition extending from Renaissance humanism through Romantic idealism. This intellectual courage manifests most brilliantly in their pioneering integration of word and image: for Christina, this synthesis illuminates aesthetic-religious relationships through liturgical symbolism and ceremonial ritual; for Dante Gabriel, it achieves what Walter Pater recognized as the rare marriage of aesthetic brilliance with 'deep, philosophic reflectiveness'. This comprehensive investigation penetrates the siblings' dialectical philosophies to expose unexpected affinities and crucial differences, establishing vital connections between their poetic principles and artistic innovations across all creative phases. The result is not merely a reinterpretation of the Rossettis, but a fundamental reconsideration of Victorian intellectual history and its enduring influence on modern consciousness.
Charlotte Xiaoqian Cai has degrees from Shanghai International Studies University (BA), the University of Leicester (MA), and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (PhD).
