ABSTRACT
The chapter opens with a presentation of the theoretical concepts drawn from French, Anglophone, and German theory and thought that have shaped the book’s approach and a demonstration of the benefits of combining them for this study. This interdisciplinary approach combines the following concepts and analysis tools: from the field of sociology, Goffman’s self-presentation and Pierre Bourdieu’s cultural capital; from rhetoric and discourse analysis, Dominique Maingueneau’s and Ruth Amossy’s rhetorical ethos and scenography, and Jérôme Meizoz’s posture; from literary theory, Diaz’s “authorial scenario” and Alain Montandon’s interdisciplinary method of sociopoetics; finally from the field of narrative and identity theories, it draws from the works of Alan Waterman, Jerome Bruner, Jens Brockmeier and Rom Harré, and the recent work on stylistic identity by Marielle Macé. The second part of the chapter investigates why the construction of Romantic identity becomes an aesthetic experience, and what this means both for the artists themselves and for how this collective identity construct is perceived.
