Ein Sommernachtstraum / A Midsummer Night’s Dream
About the work: The strong breaks in the history of interpretation make A Midsummer Night’s Dream one of Shakespeare’s most consequentially reinterpreted comedies. The interpretations of the 20th century, which concentrated on the structure of meaning, its subject matter, its world of images and symbols and the contexts of the history of ideas and culture, focused on problematic situations beyond a romantic, serene fairy world; and the politicisation that has taken place more recently under various ideological perspectives has broadened the view to include further ideological areas of tension that call for conflicting interpretations.
About the cover: The intimacy with which Marc Chagall depicts the union of Titania and Bottom in his painting Le Songe d’une nuit d’été (1939) is characterised by a similar ambiguity. The erotic encounter between the two figures shows no ecstatic dissolution of boundaries, but rather quiet longing.
About the editors: Werner Habicht (1930-2022) taught as a professor of English literature at the universities of Heidelberg, Bonn and Würzburg. His pioneering research into the literature and theatre of the Middle Ages and the early modern period as well as the reception of Shakespeare won him the highest international recognition. He was President of the German Shakespeare Society (West) 1976-1988, editor of the Shakespeare Yearbook for many years and co-founder of the English-German Study Edition of Shakespeare’s plays.
Norbert Greiner is a professor of English literature and translation studies at the universities of Heidelberg, Hamburg and Vienna. His research interests include English drama and theatre, German-English literary relations and literary translation. His volume Much Ado about Nothing (1989, 22013) and, together with Wolfgang Müller, Hamlet (2005) were published in the English-German Study Edition, of which he is co-editor.
A table of contents can be found here.