author
August Wilhelm von Schlegel
1767–1845
A key voice of early German Romanticism, he helped shape how Europe read Shakespeare by turning the plays into graceful, influential German versions. His work ranged far beyond criticism and poetry, reaching into classical scholarship and the study of Sanskrit.
1 Audiobook
Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature
by August Wilhelm von Schlegel
About the author
Born in Hanover on September 8, 1767, August Wilhelm von Schlegel became one of the central figures of Jena Romanticism alongside his brother Friedrich. He built a reputation as a critic, poet, lecturer, and scholar whose ideas helped spread the Romantic movement across Germany and beyond.
He is especially remembered for his translations of Shakespeare, which were widely admired and helped make the plays feel at home in German literature. He also worked closely with Madame de Staël for many years, contributing to the larger European conversation about literature, culture, and intellectual life.
Later in life, Schlegel expanded his scholarship into Oriental studies and Sanskrit, and he taught at the University of Bonn. That unusually wide range—from literary criticism and translation to philology and Indology—makes him stand out as one of the most versatile writers and scholars of his era. He died on May 12, 1845.