Romanticism at Twelve Fruits

Here at twelvefruits.com, we think different about romanticism. Here, we celebrate Beauty, Passion, and Love.

If you're looking for English literary romanticism, this is not the place for you. Click the back button and choose another search result. Academic romanticism is well described by Wikipedia. "Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in late 18th century Western Europe. It stressed strong emotion, imagination, freedom within or even from classical notions of form in art, and overturning of previous social conventions, particularly the position of the aristocracy. There was a strong element of historical and natural inevitablism in its ideas, stressing the importance of 'nature' in art and language. Romanticism is also noted for its elevation of the achievements of what it perceived as heroic individuals and artists." There's even an online journal, Romanticism on the Net. The articles have titles like "Gothic Opera in Britain and France: Genre, Nationalism, and Trans-Cultural Angst", which Diane Long Hoeveler and Sarah Davies Cordova of Marquette University felt necessary to contribute to society. That's all fine and good, but like many university pursuits, doesn't do much for reality.

There are some similarities here. This page likes emotion and imagination and heroism. It may even refer to artists from time to time. But this romanticism does not argue for or against aristocracy. Nature, when mentioned, only serves the purposes stated above; nature has no inevitability or evolution. In terms of convention, this page runs counter to the literary folk; it prefers classic genteelness, fairy tales, and classical art. Overall, we assign romanticism to no political party or dogma. What we mean by romanticism is the following (illustrated with quotes):

Romanticism is idealism, emotion, passion,
the words and acts expressing beauty and love.

Beauty: Visible form of the Good, the qualities that give pleasure to the senses. A transcendent principle, one often stated and not described, as with the Grand Canyon, or a sunrise, or the smile of a man's face.

Passion: Devotion and enthusiasm to a cause, the colloquial definition. Christ's death is called passion, the devotion to salvation in Christian thought. Though martyrdom is complete passion, it fortunately also exists in less dangerous forms.

Love: Regard, affection, and attraction to another person. Here, it takes primarily the romantic meaning, eros, though we do not discount agape or philia. It is the condition wherein another person's happiness is essential to your own.

This page sprung from myth, an event, and a decision, though unlike the mythological Athena no head splitting was necessary. The myth is that of the fairy tale, best expressed by C. S. Lewis in Time and Tide magazine in 1955, "And Man as a whole, Man pitted against the Universe, have we seen him at all till we see that he is like a hero in a fairy tale?" Myth is not perfect, nor is it truth, but it has a place to begin and illuminate. There's more on this idea in some of the musings linked below. The event was Daisy Day, which Adam's journal describes. The decision was that the causes of Beauty, Passion, and Love had been so decimated, particularly in Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois, that a concerted effort was needed to revive them. In grand academic tradition, a committee was founded, a Society - the Society for Romanticism.

The Society for Romanticism is a secret society. (Yes, we realize the humor in describing a secret society on a webpage.) Total membership is unknown, and will never truly be known, for most women and men join in pectore, in secret clutched to their heart, and fall away the same way. When a human does an act that expresses Beauty, Passion, or Love, that human becomes an associate in the society. When the person chooses not to, or discounts the force, the society loses an associate. On the other hand, full membership is available without cost or charge, which requires a commitment to promote the society's three goals. If there's enough interest, we might even make a membership card. Contact adam@twelvefruits.com with membership requests.

The Society has designed and published several posters. They're available in PDF format for anyone to download. Here's the current list, with links:

• What is Romanticism?: As the poster says, a manifesto for the Society, a little heavy on Love and light on Beauty but still valuable.
• Beauty doesn't come here to die: The unofficial motto of the University of Chicago is "Where Fun comes to die". This poster makes a play on that statement. It's been the most popular at the University. One copy was even defaced, by removing the "doesn't", showing that people notice and read them. Three months after the first postering, about a half dozen still remained on campus, including a couple that were intentionally replaced even as other advertisements were removed. That's pretty powerful.
• Dance Sing Play Hopscotch: Focusing on Passion by reminding people that joyful actions are permissible, too.
• More than a literary theory: Clarifying exactly what we mean by our idea, reaching for the stars.

Articles and Such

Besides the posters, here's a list of the pages, writings, and musings on twelvefruits.com that deal with Romanticism in one way or another.

• Romanticism, Pure and Hopeless: A long journal entry from Adam's musing journal on Gilmore Girls, the interpersonal side of love, the joy of emotion, and the potential corruptions of idealism and perfectionism.
• Daisy Day: A journal entry reporting from the front in the battle against dreariness and depression.
• Asian Women in Lab Coats: People wonder why American science students seem to marry Asian women. Here's one take on the subject, not the most passionate, but still about how love blossoms.
• Happily Ever After: What does that phrase, the end of the fairy tale, really mean? Is it just part of fantasy?
• Quotes About Romanticism: Sayings, utterances, and quotes that illustrate the principles of the site.