Shylock in Germany: Antisemitism and the German Theatre from The Enlightenment to the Nazis

(Hardback)

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How did the catastrophic development of antisemitism in Germany interact with the portrayal of Shylock on the German stage Here Andrew Bonnell gives us the first cultural history of this tragic character from Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" as performed on the German stage from the late eighteenth century to the end of World War II. In addition to analysing the performances of the most famous German actors in the role from 1777 to 1944, "Shylock in Germany" looks at the rising and falling popularity of "The Merchant of Venice" across Germany in this period, and the extent to which the role's history reflects changes in the situation of Jews in Germany and Austria.It follows the evolution of Shylock in nineteenth century and Imperial Germany, from the formative years of the modern German theatre as a cultural (and civic) institution; through the Weimar Republic, an epoch remembered for innovation and experiment, but also a period marked by an estrangement between an aggressively modernist metropolitan culture and a provincial cultural life which clung more to continuity; and, finally, considers the impact of the Nazi period with its murderous state-ordained antisemitism.
Shylock's career in Germany after 1933 was neither as conspicuous nor as unambiguous as one might expect. Using archival research and drawing on much primary source material, Bonnell does not confine the book to theatre history only - but instead uses the changing portrayal of Shylock to analyse German cultural attitudes towards Jews over time.

Reviews

'a most impressive achievement...it deserves and will attract a wide readership, offering as it does a very original and compelling insight into modern German cultural, intellectual and political history.' Dr Peter Monteath Senior Lecturer in History Flinders University Adelaide 'a highly readable and original piece of cultural history that breaks new ground in the field by revealing the political - that is, antisemitic - dimension of the Shakespeare play. Notable, too, is the manuscript's broad temporal spam, which gives it a broad appeal. Based on painstaking research and mainly German secondary literature, [it] is the most current work in English on this subject. It is not just about the stage, however. it is a very special history of antisemitism in Germany during this period, charting the twists and turns of the play's interpretation. For that reason, it will appeal to all historians of modern Germany.' Dr A. Dirk Moses, Department of History University of Sydney

Author Bio

Andrew Bonnell is Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Queensland. He has studied at the Universities of Sydney, Marburg and Berlin.