Suggestions Towards an Edition of Shakespeare for French, German and Other Continental Readers

Summary

Recently an American scholar, after discussing this century’s work in the presentation of Shakespear’s text, has suggested that even now there is room for editions of Shakespeare different from those we have, editions which will serve some purposes better than the existing editions do. Among such editions there is one which deserves special consideration—a text of the plays designed for those many French, German and other continental readers who are well acquainted with the English language but who are not concerned with the detailed apparatus proper and necessary for university students. Again and again readers of this kind, in their desire to enter into the spirit of Shakespeare’s poetic achievement, have turned to the plays as they appear in current editions but, finding themselves confronted by all sorts of difficulties, have been forced to abandon the English text and to revert to those translations from which they had hoped to escape. For them, it would seem, something must be provided different from anything that at present exists, some edition that would help them to realize the power of the poetry, that would induce in them the imaginative excitement without which poetry cannot be appreciated.