Schlegel as a Patriot and Politician
A man of letters in the German struggle against Napoleon, writes Douglas Hilt, August Wilhelm von Schlegel had many French connexions and is a renowned translator both of Shakespeare and Sanskrit writings.
Few Germans are unfamiliar with the name of Schlegel as the inspired translator of Shakespeare, a brilliant achievement that has made the English dramatist in effect Germany’s most popular playwright.
Most students are also aware of Schlegel’s pioneering work in romantic literature in collaboration with his wife Caroline and his younger brother Friedrich. No less familiar are his marital troubles and later estrangement from them both, which resulted in his middle years being spent at Coppet as the academic showpiece of Madame de Staël.
Schlegel’s fame as a critic, linguist and Sanskrit scholar is well established and documented; but, had he expressed a preference during his own lifetime, he would undoubtedly have wished to be known as a German patriot in the struggle against Napoleon.
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