Early Modern German Shakespeare: Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet: Der Bestrafte Brudermord and Romio und Julieta in Translation

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This book is a translation of German versions of both Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. The introductions to each play place these versions of Shakespeare's plays in the German context, and offer insights into what we can learn about the original texts from these translations. English itinerant players toured in northern continental Europe from the 1580s. Their repertories initially consisted of plays from the London theatre, but over time the players learnt German, and German players joined the companies, as a result of which the dramatic texts were adapted and translated into German. A number of German plays now extant have a direct connection to Shakespeare. Four of them are so close in plot, character constellation and at times even language to their English originals that they can legitimately be considered versions of Shakespeares plays. This volume offers fully edited translations of two such texts: Der Bestrafte Brudermord / Fratricide Punished (Hamlet) and Romio und Julieta (Romeo and Juliet). With full scholarly apparatus, these texts are of seminal interest to all scholars of Shakespeare's texts, and their transmission over time in print, translation and performance.

Reviews

The two plays make for fascinating and entertaining reading, and they merit consideration in their own right, but they will also be valuable to anyone with an interest in Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, the reception and alteration of Shakespeares plays and characters, and the relationship between English and continental European theatre traditions more generally The plays presentation in the Arden house style provides Brudermord and Romio und Julieta with a platform for further serious scholarly enquiry, whilst the quality of the translations and the appeal of the playtexts promise to establish them as firm favourites in the extended Shakespeare canon. * Shakespeare Survey *

Author Bio

Kareen Seidler holds a PhD from the University of Geneva, Switzerland and an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, UK. Her MPhil thesis on Romio und Julieta was awarded the Martin-Lehnert-Award of the German Shakespeare Society. Lukas Erne is Professor of English Literature at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. He is author of Shakespeare as Literary Dramatist (2003). He has taught at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, at the University of Neuchtel and, as Visiting Professor, at Yale University.