Bringing the Bard back home? The English translation of foreign Shakespeare criticism in the long 19th century

Unlike much discussed translations of Shakespeare’s texts, translations of Shakespeare criticism have attracted no scholarly attention. Shakespeare critics in different countries often used to read each other in the original, but their writings also reached wider foreign audiences through translations. By analysing English translations of French and German writings on Shakespeare in the long 19th century (an age of popular Bardolatry or ‘Shakespeare-mania’), this project will question the view that British publications about Shakespeare were part of an insular, patriotic literary culture that had enshrined the English ‘Bard’ at its centre. It will examine the different textual and paratextual strategies used by various translators to convey the significance of foreign perspectives on Shakespeare, and the reception of their translations. The project will highlight an important, yet neglected international dimension of Romantic and Victorian literary cultures.

Keywords:Shakespeare criticism, translation, cultural transfer, 19th century, Anglo-German exchanges, Anglo-French exchanges

Disciplines:Comparative literature studies