The Germ. Origins and Progenies of Pre-Raphaelite Interart Aestetics

This co-authored volume, with individual contributions clearly identified, explores the theoretical principles at the basis of Pre-Raphaelite verbal-visual aesthetics as expressed in the magazine The Germ, published in four issues in 1850. The young contributors of the journal, most of whom belonged to the Pre-Raphaelite movement and had continued to the foundation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, delved into the relationship between figurative arts and literature, espousing late-Romantic principles, but also anticipating Aestheticist and Symbolist ideas, and thus proving influential to the poetics of the fin de siècle. Through their groundbreaking publication, they also set the model for a number of important Modernist periodicals that discussed interart issues. Often regarded as a fleeting experiment, this study shows that The Germ was in fact a laboratory for forms of art, themes and ideas that had a great impact on the history of British culture.