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SCHLEGEL, AUGUST WILHELM VON (1767-1845)

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 329 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SCHLEGEL, See also:AUGUST WILHELM VON (1767-1845) , See also:German poet, translator and critic, was See also:born on the 8th of See also:September, 1767, at See also:Hanover, where his See also:father, Johann Adolf Schlegel (1721-1793), was a Lutheran pastor. He was educated at the Hanover gymnasium and at the university of See also:Gottingen. Having spent some years as a See also:tutor in the See also:house of a banker at See also:Amsterdam, he went to See also:Jena, where, in 1796, he married Karoline, the widow of the physician See also:Bohmer (see SCIIELLING, KAROLINE) and in 1798 was appointed extraordinary See also:professor. Here he began his See also:translation of See also:Shakespeare, which was ultimately completed, under the superintendence of See also:Ludwig See also:Tieck, by Tieck's daughter Dorothea and See also:Graf W. H. Baudissin. This rendering is one of the best poetical See also:translations in German, or indeed in any See also:language. At Jena Schlegel contributed to See also:Schiller's See also:periodicals the Horen and the Musenalmanach; and with his See also:brother See also:Friedrich he conducted the See also:Athenaeum, the See also:organ of the Romantic school, He also published a See also:volume of poems, and carried on a rather See also:bitter controversy with See also:Kotzebue. At this See also:time the two See also:brothers were remarkable for the vigour and freshness of their ideas, and commanded respect as the leaders of the new Romantic See also:criticism. A volume of their See also:joint essays appeared in 18oi under the See also:title Charakteristiken and Kritiken. In 1802 Schlegel went to See also:Berlin, where he delivered lectures on See also:art and literature; and in the following See also:year he published See also:Ion, a tragedy in Euripidean See also:style, which gave rise to a suggestive discussion on the principles of dramatic See also:poetry. This was followed by Spanisches Theater (2 vols., 1803-1809), in which he presented admirable translations of five of See also:Calderon's plays; and in another volume, Blumenstraiisse italienischer, spanischer and portuguesischer Poesie (1804), he gave translations of See also:Spanish, Portuguese and See also:Italian lyrics.

In 1807 he attracted much See also:

attention in See also:France by an See also:essay in the See also:French language, Comparaison entre la Phedre de See also:Racine et See also:celle d'Euripide, in which he attacked French classicism from the standpoint of the Romantic school. His lectures on dramatic art and literature (Uber dramatische Kunst and Literatur, 1809-1811), which have been translated into most See also:European See also:languages, were delivered at See also:Vienna in ,8o8. Meanwhile, after a See also:divorce from his wife Karoline, in 1804, he travelled in France, See also:Germany, See also:Italy and other countries with Madame de See also:Stael, who owed to him many of the ideas which she embodied in her See also:work, De l'Allemagne. In 1813 he acted as secretary of the See also:crown See also:prince of See also:Sweden, through whose See also:influence the right of his See also:family to See also:noble See also:rank was revived. Schlegel was made a professor of literature at the university of See also:Bonn in 1818, and during the See also:remainder of his See also:life occupied himself chiefly with See also:oriental studies, although he continued to lecture on art and literature, and in 1828 he issued two volumes of See also:critical writings (Kritische Schriften). In 1823-183o he published the See also:journal Indische Bibliothek (3 vols.) and edited (1823) the Bhagavad-Gita with a Latin translation, and (1829) the Ramdyana. These See also:works See also:mark the beginning of See also:Sanskrit scholarship in Germany. After the See also:death of Madame de Stael Schlegel married (1818) a daughter of Professor See also:Paulus of See also:Heidelberg; but this See also:union was dissolved in 182r. He died at Bonn on the 12th of May 1845. As an See also:original poet Schlegel is unimportant, but as a poetical translator he has rarely been excelled, and in criticism he put into practice the Romantic principle that a critic's first See also:duty is not to See also:judge from the stand-point of superiority, but to understand and to " characterize " a work of art. In 1846-1847 Schlegel's Samtliche Werke were issued in twelve volumes by E. Bocking.

There are also See also:

editions by the same editor of his 1Euvres ecrites en See also:francais (3 vols., 1846), and of his Opuscula Latine scripta (1848). Schlegel's Shakespeare translations have been often reprinted; the edition of 1871-1872 was revised with Schlegel's See also:MSS. by M. See also:Bernays. See M. Bernays, Zur Entstehungsgeschichte See also:des Schlegelschen Shakespeare (1872); R. Genee, Schlegel and Shakespeare (1903). Schlegel's Berlin lectures of 18o1-1804 were reprinted from MS. notes by J. See also:Minor (1884). A selection of the writings of both A. W. and Friedrich Schlegel, edited by O. F. Walzel, will be found in Kiirschner's Deutsche Nationalliteratur, 143 (1892).

See especially R. See also:

Haym, Romantische Schule, and the See also:article in the Allg. deutsche Biographie by F. Muncker.

End of Article: SCHLEGEL, AUGUST WILHELM VON (1767-1845)

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