Romanticism, Republicanism, and the Swiss Myth

The first detailed treatment of Switzerland in British literature and
culture from Joseph Addison to John Ruskin, this book analyzes the
aesthetic and political uses of what is commonly called the “Swiss
myth” in the parallel development of Romanticism and liberalism.
The myth merged the country’s legends going back to the Middle
Ages with the Enlightenment image of a happy, free nation of alpine
shepherds. Its unique combination of conservative, progressive, and
radical associations enabled writers before the French Revolution to
call for democratic reforms, whereas those coming after could refigure
it as a conservative alternative to French liberté. Integrating intellectual
history with literary studies, and addressing a wide range of
Romantic-period texts and authors, among them Byron, the
Shelleys, Hemans, Scott, Coleridge, and, above all, Wordsworth,
the book argues that the myth contributed to the liberal idea of the
people as a sublime yet sleeping sovereign.