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Chapter 4. Othello on the German stage

From ‘The Moor of Venice’ to ‘Chocco’, from Schlegel-Tieck to ‘Kanak Sprak’
  • Lawrence Guntner
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<i>Othello</i> in European Culture
This chapter is in the book <i>Othello</i> in European Culture

Abstract

The German Shakespeare narrative afforded no role for a sub-Saharan Africa ‘blackamoor’, ‘a person of color’, as tragic hero. This may account for why Othello has been the Shakespearean tragedy least translated and performed on German stages. In the Schlegel-Tieck translations (1798–1833) and in theater criticism Othello was usually referred to as a “tawny Moor” (Maure), from North Africa or the Levant, well into the twentieth century. After World War II, German society grew more diverse, racially, culturally, and linguistically, and translations as well as performances began to reflect the elements of racial, ethnic, and social conflict in the play. On occasion, Shakespeare’s ‘The Moor of Venice’ has even been renamed ‘Venice’s Nigger’. Globalization and the influx of refugees from Africa and the Middle East since 2000 have led to radical re-translations, tradaptations and performances that have questioned the canonized German version of Othello, the protagonist, and Othello, the play. As a result, twenty-first century performances have become forums for discussing issues of racism, ethnicity, cultural experience and sexuality as well as how to perform them.

Abstract

The German Shakespeare narrative afforded no role for a sub-Saharan Africa ‘blackamoor’, ‘a person of color’, as tragic hero. This may account for why Othello has been the Shakespearean tragedy least translated and performed on German stages. In the Schlegel-Tieck translations (1798–1833) and in theater criticism Othello was usually referred to as a “tawny Moor” (Maure), from North Africa or the Levant, well into the twentieth century. After World War II, German society grew more diverse, racially, culturally, and linguistically, and translations as well as performances began to reflect the elements of racial, ethnic, and social conflict in the play. On occasion, Shakespeare’s ‘The Moor of Venice’ has even been renamed ‘Venice’s Nigger’. Globalization and the influx of refugees from Africa and the Middle East since 2000 have led to radical re-translations, tradaptations and performances that have questioned the canonized German version of Othello, the protagonist, and Othello, the play. As a result, twenty-first century performances have become forums for discussing issues of racism, ethnicity, cultural experience and sexuality as well as how to perform them.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of contributors vii
  4. Introduction. “I would my [European] pilgrimage dilate” 1
  5. Part 1. Trans(national) subjects
  6. Chapter 1. Charles Mathews’s Othello, the Moor of Fleet Street (1833) and Maurice Dowling’s Othello Travestie (1834) 29
  7. Chapter 2. Othello in Spain (1802–1844) 49
  8. Chapter 3. Traditions of playing and spectating 63
  9. Chapter 4. Othello on the German stage 81
  10. Part 2. Othello and European constructions of alterity
  11. Chapter 5. Othello’s race and slavery 99
  12. Chapter 6. From black to white, from man to beast, from tragical to comical 113
  13. Chapter 7. Let it be hid? 133
  14. Chapter 8. “It is all about passion” 153
  15. Part 3. Adapting Othello
  16. Chapter 9. Adapting Othello for television in late Francoist Spain 173
  17. Chapter 10. Pulling the strings 191
  18. Chapter 11. The circumcised dog and the subtle whore 205
  19. Chapter 12. “It is not words that shakes me thus” 225
  20. Chapter 13. A selective timeline of Othello in European culture 247
  21. Index 261
https://doi.org/10.1075/sec.3.04gun

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of contributors vii
  4. Introduction. “I would my [European] pilgrimage dilate” 1
  5. Part 1. Trans(national) subjects
  6. Chapter 1. Charles Mathews’s Othello, the Moor of Fleet Street (1833) and Maurice Dowling’s Othello Travestie (1834) 29
  7. Chapter 2. Othello in Spain (1802–1844) 49
  8. Chapter 3. Traditions of playing and spectating 63
  9. Chapter 4. Othello on the German stage 81
  10. Part 2. Othello and European constructions of alterity
  11. Chapter 5. Othello’s race and slavery 99
  12. Chapter 6. From black to white, from man to beast, from tragical to comical 113
  13. Chapter 7. Let it be hid? 133
  14. Chapter 8. “It is all about passion” 153
  15. Part 3. Adapting Othello
  16. Chapter 9. Adapting Othello for television in late Francoist Spain 173
  17. Chapter 10. Pulling the strings 191
  18. Chapter 11. The circumcised dog and the subtle whore 205
  19. Chapter 12. “It is not words that shakes me thus” 225
  20. Chapter 13. A selective timeline of Othello in European culture 247
  21. Index 261
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