Asko Nivala: The Chemical Age: Presenting History with Metaphors. In: Bruce Johnson &Harri Kiiskinen (eds.): They Do Things Differently There. Essays on Cultural History. Cultural History – Kulttuurihistoria 9. k&h, Turku, 2011. Pp. 81–108. The Chemical Age: Presenting history with metaphors * Asko Nivala ‘Organicism’ is often regarded as a central trope in the discourse of early Ro- manticism. Manfred Frank notes that the Romantics were highly critical of the modern mechanistic state, and wished to promote a more organic conception of society, and indeed that the entire Romantic era could be interpreted through this theme. 1 Certainly, Frank’s interpretation is convincing. e biology-derived metaphor of the ‘organism’ is a useful key to the Romantic imagination. However, by contrast, Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829), one of the most inuential theorists of early German Ro- manticism, modelled the characteristics of the modern epoch in chemical rather than mechanistic terms. He wrote in the collection called ‘Frag- ments’ (‘Fragmente’, 1798) that was published in Athenäum-magazine: It is natural that the French should more or less dominate the age. ey are a chemical nation and in them the chemical sense is most widely developed … Likewise, the age is a chemical one. Revolutions are universal, chemical not organic movements. … at the novel, criticism, wit, sociability, the most recent rhetoric, and all previous history have a chemical makeup is self-evident. But until we have reached the stage of being able to characterize the universe and classify mankind, we have to be content with brief notes on the prevailing mood and individual mannerisms of the age, without even being able to draw a prole of the giant. For how would we go about nding * I would like to thank the anonymous referees, Bruce Johnson, Sakari Ollitervo, Heli Rantala and Jasmine Westerlund for their most valuable suggestions in preparing this article. 1 Frank 1982, pp. 170–171, 181. See also Beiser 1992, p. 236. 81