Review of Romantic prose fiction, edited by Gillespie, G., Engel, M. and Dieterle, B.

Collections of essays dealing with European Romantic culture face something of a challenge: the topic is difficult to map, the dates of the so-called ‘period’ are disputed and in constant flux, and the ‘movement’ continually crosses linguistic, generic, and disciplinary borders. As a result, such volumes can fall into one of two traps: either they seek to encompass broader trends and end up lacking in close textual readings, or they are so sharply focused that they may be of limited appeal to more general readers. At over 700 pages, this volume of thirty-six essays, together with an Introduction and Conclusion, is more than comprehensive and makes a good attempt at circumventing such pitfalls. The fact that the collection belongs to an integrated sub-series — the others are dedicated to Romantic irony, drama, poetry, and non-fictional prose — helps to ensure that no single volume takes on too much