August Wilhelm von Schlegel
(born Sept. 8, 1767, Hannover, Hanover — died May 12, 1845, Bonn) German scholar and critic. He worked as a tutor and wrote for
Friedrich Schiller's short-lived periodical
Die Horen before cofounding with his brother
Friedrich von Schlegel the periodical
Athenäum (1798 – 1800), which became the organ of German
Romanticism. While a professor at the University of Jena, he undertook translations of the works of
William Shakespeare (1797 – 1810) that became standard editions and are among the finest of all German literary translations. His
Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature (1809 – 11) was widely translated and helped spread fundamental Romantic ideas throughout Europe. From 1818 until his death he taught at the University of Bonn.
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