Edmund Burke : A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful

328 Pages·2017·16.162 MB·English

by  Edmund Burke, James T. Boulton

A PHILOSOPHICAL ENQUIRY
INTO THE ORIGIN OF OUR IDEAS
OF THE SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL

EDMUND BURKE
A PhilosophicalE nquiry
into the Origin
of our Ideas of
the Sublime and Beautiful
EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION
AND NOTES BY
JAMES T. BOULTON
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME PRESS
NOTRE DAME
First paperback edition 1968 by
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, IN 46556
www.undpress.nd.edu
All Rights Reserved
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Published in the United (cid:51)tates of (cid:33)merica
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University of Notre Dame Press
Hardback edition published in 2017
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Exploring the human endeavor. Any views, findings,
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(cid:44)ibrary of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-27583
ISBN 13: 978-0-268-00085-1 (paperback)
ISBN 13: 978-0-268-04873-0 (hardback)
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CONTENTS
EDITOR'S PREFACE IX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Xl
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION xv
I Composition and Publication xv
II On Taste XXVll
III The Sublime and Beautiful XXXIX
IV Influence of the Enquiry lxxxi
NOTE ON THE TEXT CXXIX
BURKE'S ENQUIRT
Preface to the First Edition I
Preface to the Second Edition 3
Contents 7
Text I I
APPENDIX: A LIST OF EDITIONS OF THE ENQUIRT
79
PUBLISHED DURING BURKE'S LIFETIME I
INDEX 183
V

TO
MARGARET
ANDREW AND HELEN

EDITOR'S PREFACE
B
URKE'S eminence as a political thinker has been long
acknowledged: his claims as an aesthetician have rarely
been seriously, never thoroughly considered. On the other hand,
while his theory is no longer acceptable, no reputable historian
of the aesthetics, the literary criticism, or the taste of the
eighteenth century fails to give a mention-frequently a
detailed analysis-to Burke's PhilosophicalE nquiry into ... the
Sublimea nd Beautiful. And yet no critical edition of this work has
been published in the two hundred years since its first appear
ance. Without exaggerating the wisdom of the Enquiry, one
must rank it among the most important documents of its
century. Besides painters, architects, and a host of minor
writers, such major figures as Johnson, Blake (d espite his overt
scorn for Burke's ideas), Wordsworth, Hardy, Diderot, Lessing,
and Kant felt its influence. It is hoped, therefore, that this
bicentenary edition will enable a just historical estimate to be
made of a work in which, as Johnson remarked of him later,
Burke's "stream of mind is perpetual".
The principal tasks facing an editor were to establish a
definitive text, to show and account for Burke's extensive
textual changes in the second edition, and to supply the
necessary annotation. In addition, I have related the whole
work to the historical development of ideas and shown some
directions in which, in England and Europe, it appears to
have been influential.
To whatever degree of adequacy and completeness has been
achieved many have contributed; what faults remain are my
sole responsibility. To Professor V. de S. Pinto and my col
leagues in the Department of English in the University of
Nottingham my thanks are due for their unfailing assistance;
in particular I am indebted to Mr. G. R. Hibbard who read
ix