Making Hamlet German: Forms of Translation and Recreation

This book examines the retranslation of Hamlet in Germany in the 20th and the early 21st century. It adopts a comparative approach, juxtaposing four retranslations (the versions by Hauptmann, Fried, Gunther, Schanelec and Gosch) of Shakespeare’s Hamlet to Schlegel’s canonical translation of the Long Nineteenth Century. By comparing and contrasting the succeeding translations to the Schlegelian translation as well as their direct predecessors, it can be assessed to what extent retranslators have engaged with previous solutions, thereby benefitting the creation of a translating tradition. Beyond the linguistic examination of the translations, it is the author’s aim to contribute to a deeper understanding of the process of retranslation as a whole.