English professor Eugene Stelzig was recently announced the winner of the Jean-Pierre Barricelli Book Prize for his life piece Henry Crabb Robinson in Germany. Awarded by the International Conference on Romanticism, the prize recognizes the year's best book in romanticism studies.
According to Stelzig, little writing has been done on Robinson, but the author has garnered renewed attention thanks to modern interests in "canon revision."
The ICR seems to agree, stating in the letter to Stelzig that the book "is a particular piece that has been needed in the field of Crabb Robinson studies for generations."
Robinson is important to the study of romanticism because of his affiliation with two different countries.
"He was an English writer who lived in Germany for five years," Stelzig said. "He served as a cultural mediator between England and Germany."
Stelzig wrote the book over the course of several years, finally finishing in June 2010. The work was published by Bucknell University Press.
The life piece focuses on Robinson's work as a 19th century autobiographer. "It's a biographical and a literary study," Stelzig said.
Stelzig will be given a commemorative plaque this fall at the annual ICR meeting in Montreal.