Coleridge and Kantian Ideas in England, 1796-1817 : Coleridge's Responses to German Philosophy

Author of Biographia Literaria (1817) and The Friend (1809-10,1812 and 1818), Samuel Taylor Coleridge was the central figure in the British transmission of German idealism in the nineteenth century. The advent of Immanuel Kant in Coleridge's thought is traditionally seen as the start of the poet's turn towards an internalized Romanticism. Demonstrating that Coleridge's discovery of Kant came at an earlier point than has been previously recognized, this book examines the historical roots of Coleridge's life-long preoccupation with Kant over a period of twenty years from the first extant Kant entry until the publication of his autobiography. Drawing on previously unpublished contemporary reviews of Kant and seeking socio-political meaning outside the literary canon in the English radical circles of the 1790s, Monika Class here establishes conceptual affinities between Coleridge's writings and that of Kant's earliest English mediators and in doing so revises Coleridge's allegedly non-political response to Kant.

“This book engages the reader and provides ample food for thought. Besides demonstrating that Coleridge's version of Kant owes more to Nitsch than previously recognized, she also effectively details the interconnections that both Kant and Coleridge drew between politics, philosophy, and religion. Class also does an exceptional job of presenting the social context of English culture at the close of the eighteenth century, when Kant was initially received and his critical philosophy was dispersed. Instead of retelling the oft-told tale of Coleridge's march to conservatism as a straightforward, linear path marked by clear signposts, Class maps the twists and turns of the journey, the reversals and regressions as well as the public relations dilemmas. So while this book may prove challenging for those unversed in Kant, it is hardly meant for Kantians alone. Besides engaging Coleridgeans and Romanticists, it should also appeal to anyone interested in the intellectual, political, and social history of the period.” —Thomas R. Simmons, Review 19

“[An] engaging and thoroughly researched study ... The major scholarly contribution is Class's approach, which expands upon previous studies by considering 'Coleridge's reception of Kant from a position of English culture' ... Complex and sophisticated.” - The BARS Review