Four Hundred Years of Shakespeare in Europe by A. Luis Pujante , Ton Hoenselaars (review)

Abstract

MLR, 100.3, 2005 771 creativity. Freinkel, by contrast, gives a quite extraordinary and challenging meaning to Puttenham's words: 'Catachresis thus compensates foran original lack in the proper order ofnature: a lack that compromises the verynotion oforigin itself (p. 162). Pretty much everything she claims for Shakespeare's use of language in the Sonnets hangs on this assertion. Though what it says about Luther carries an urgent conviction, Reading Shake? speare's Will requires us to believe that Shakespeare absorbed more of his theology than its author ever proves. Nor can its scrupulous and insightful reading of poetic language quite disguise the fact that it is constantly begging the question. University of York John Roe Four Hundred Years of Shakespeare in Europe. Ed. by A. Luis Pujante and Ton Hoenselaars, with a foreword by Stanley Wells. Newark: University of Delaware Press. 2003. 274 pp. ?42. ISBN 0-87413-812-4. This important collection of European studies of Shakespeare is a record of an in? ternational, or rather intercultural, conference held at Murcia, Spain, organized by a number ofscholars particularly interested in a dialogue between English-speaking and 'foreign' Shakespearians. The essays cover a wide range of issues, made more relevant by their context, even where they appear as simple case studies. Perhaps most typical is Dirk Delabastita's contribution, 'More Alternative Shakespeares'; it is 'trenchant, challenging and somewhat chastening', as Stanley Wells says in his generous and keen-sighted foreword, where he also speaks of the 'absorption of Shakespeare into the bloodstream of European civilization' (p. 9). Speaking no doubt for many Euro? pean Shakespearians, Delabastita points out, however, that there is still a deplorable gulf separating the English-speaking community of Shakespearians (including all those who use the English language as the only means of communicating with their English colleagues) from all the non-English discussions, performances, and cultural appropriations of Shakespeare. Some of this is certainly due to the ever increasing monolingual character of European (and global) academic discourse. This is also why in Britain and North America translation studies occupy a rather low position in the list of scholarly priorities. The present volume offers a number of particularly interesting examples of the importance of translations in various national cultures. Shakespeare's sonnets are perhaps a special case and seem to pose a particular fascination and challenge forpoets and translators. Thus Sonnet 66, of which more than 150 German versions exist, has been put to all kinds of political and sociological uses in Germany, as Manfred Pfister in his lively contribution, reprinted from Shakespeare Jahrbuch 200 j, demonstrates. The international interest in the sonnets is underlined by Martin Hilsky, whose discussion draws on three translations, including his own, of the whole cycle into Czech. It is a cogent demonstration that poetic translation must be practised and understood as an act of intercultural as well as interlingual dialogue. Most of the contributors, of course, are concerned with the plays, their adaptation and production in circumstances and theatrical conditions very differentfrom the Royal Shakespeare Company or the London Globe. Each country has its own charac? teristic history of Shakespeare reception, as Marta Gibinska's valuable essay, 'Enter Shakespeare: The Contexts of Early Polish Appropriation', demonstrates, with refer? ence to Polish history and the close links with France and the Enlightenment rather than with English culture, at least during the early stages of Shakespeare's influence. The concise overview by Isabelle Schwartz-Gastine, 'Shakespeare on the French Stage: A Historical Survey', provides a good deal of useful information on the classic 772 Reviews French stage tradition and more recent developments. She confidently claims that, in contrast to earlier critics and producers, 'it would occur to no one at present to turn to the English stage as a model and a source of inspiration, or to consider English companies and directors as the sole heirs to the Shakespearean heritage' (p. 238). Shakespeare's texts, in numerous translations, 'can be explored by directors, accord? ing to their whims, tastes, and interests' (p. 238). For her, this bold independence is proof 'that Shakespeare has definitely found roots in French culture' (p. 238) A very differentformofappropriation is introduced in Keith Gregor's essay 'Shake...