Shakespeare

by Johann Gottfried Herder, Gregory Martin Moore (Translator)

Without Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), we simply would not understand Shakespeare in the way we do. In fact, much literature and art besides Shakespeare would neither look the same nor be the same without the influence of Herder's "Shakespeare" (1773). One of the most important and original works in the history of literary criticism, this passionate essay pioneered a new, historicist approach to cultural artifacts by arguing that they should be judged not by their conformity to a set of conventions imported from another time and place, but by the effectiveness of their response to their own historical and cultural context. Rejecting the authority of a dominant and stifling French neoclassicism that judged eighteenth-century plays by the criteria of Aristotle, Herder's "Shakespeare" signaled a break with the Enlightenment, the approach of Romanticism, and the arrival of a distinctly modern form of aesthetic appreciation.

With a vivid new translation and a fascinating introduction by Gregory Moore, this edition of Herder's classic will speak to today's readers with undiminished power and persuasiveness.

Genres: Essays, Literary Criticism, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Shakespeare

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1773

About the author

Theory of culture and advocacy of intuition over rationality of German philosopher and writer Johann Gottfried von Herder greatly influenced Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and formed the basis of German romanticism.

The periods of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, and Weimar classicism associate this theologian, poet, and literary critic.

In 1772, Herder published Treatise on the Origin of Language and went further in this promotion of language than his earlier injunction to "spew out the ugly slime of the Seine. Speak German, oh you German." Herder then established the foundations of comparative philology within the new currents of political outlook.

Reviews

[Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why German drama should not be like that sterile, unities-obeying French drama.

Political considerations aside, it is a delight to read someone else being dementedly rhapsodic about Shakespeare.

[Brandon Sitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This essay has a deceptively simple thesis: Shakespeare resembles Ancient Greek drama more closely than French neoclassical theatre does, despite (or, as it turns out, because of) the latter's direct attempts at imitation. Herder argues that this is the case because Ancient Greek theatre emerged organically and naturally out of its predecessors (dithyrambs) and from the structure of daily life in Ancient Greece, just as Shakespeare's works arose out of "historical dramas and puppet plays" and contain the complexities of Elizabethan England. French neoclassical theatre, however, is highly anachronistic; with its Aristotelian unities, it betrays the spirit of Ancient Greek drama by obeying it too strictly, such that it fails to resemble the lives of those in France during the period.

In terms of Herder's style, questions and exclamations abound, dashes and parens dance across the page with a number of charming moments (at one point he refers affectionately to "dear old Aristotle"). It's refreshing to read criticism that aspires to the sublimity of its subject matter.

[Red · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sturm und drang

[Mohamed AMRAN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Herder fangirling about Shakespeare. Love it.