Full Description
This open access book provides translations of early German versions of Titus Andronicus and The Taming of the Shrew. The introductory material situates these plays in their German context and discusses the insights they offer into the original English texts.
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, meaning the dramatic texts were adapted and translated into German. There are four plays that can legitimately be considered as versions of Shakespeare's plays. The present volume (volume 2) offers fully-edited translations of two of them: Tito Andronico (Titus Andronicus) and Kunst über alle Künste, ein bös Weib gut zu machen / An Art beyond All Arts, to Make a Bad Wife Good (The Taming of the Shrew). For the other two plays, Der Bestrafte Brudermord / Fratricide Punished (Hamlet) and Romio und Julieta (Romeo and Juliet), see volume 1. These plays are of great interest not only to all Shakespeareans, but also to scholars who are concerned with the broader issues of translation, performance and textual transmission over time.
The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by Swiss National Science Foundation.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction to Tito Andronico (Titus Andronicus)
The Relationship of Tito Andronico to Titus Andronicus
Issues of Race in Tito Andronico
The Source of Tito Andronico
The Peacham Drawing
Titus and Vespasian and the Ur-Titus
The Chapbook Prose History and the Ballad
German Titus Plays in the Seventeenth Century
Textual Introduction
The Engelische Comedien vnd Tragedien of 1620 and 1624
Friedrich Menius and the 1620 Engelische Comedien vnd Tragedien
The 1620 Engelische Comedien vnd Tragedien and Their Theatrical Origins
Conclusion
The 1620/1624 Engelische Comedien vnd Tragedien: Extant Copies
Editorial History
Introduction to Kunst über alle Künste, ein bös Weib gut zu machen (The Taming of the Shrew)
The Relationship of Kunst über alle Künste to The Taming of the Shrew
Characters and Plot: Correspondences and Differences
Adapting the Plot of The Taming of the Shrew
Soliloquies and Asides
Verbal, Cultural and Dramatic Language
The Taming of the Shrew in German in the Seventeenth Century
Textual Introduction
The Early Editions and Their Contexts: Publication, Paratext and Authorship
The Order of Publication of the Two Editions of 1672
Extant Copies of the Early Editions
Editorial History
A note on the translations
A note on the commentary and collation
TITO ANDRONICO IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION
KUNST ÜBER ALLE KÜNSTE, EIN BÖS WEIB GUT ZU MACHEN IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Appendix: Doubling charts for Tito Andronico and Kunst über alle Künste, ein bös Weib gut zu machen
Abbreviations and references
Index
