The 19th Century
In the 19th century nationalism was an especially potent influence on all of these fields. To summarize, every established national group used cultural productions to assert and strengthen a sense of national unity and destiny; less politically consolidated groups, especially those pursuing the goal of nationhood, used them in the same ways, though often with a note of determination that makes them easier to see from our contemporary point of reference.
Natural admiration for excellence and justifiable pride in a predecessor's achievements is sometimes difficult to sort out from other intentions. Dante was a great poet, the Societa Dantesca Italiana did great work in editing and publishing a usable and affordable text, but the Divine Comedy was certainly used by the newly unified Italian government (see History of Italy) to encourage a more homogeneous, Tuscan-influenced dialect for the whole peninsula (see Italian language).
Read more about this topic: Cultural Production And Nationalism
Famous quotes containing the word century:
“In the nineteenth century the problem was that God is dead; in the twentieth century the problem is that man is dead.”
—Erich Fromm (1900–1980)