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Shakespeare was not always the writer of unsustainable quality, object of the devotion of theater fans and inspiration for artists.

Actually, the works of the English writer arrived in the continent in the 18th century with difficulty and under the magnifying glass of suspicion about their quality and artistic validity.

And they did it by the hand of one of the most reputable intellectuals of the time: Voltaire, who discovered the virtues of the author of "Hamlet", but who also saw in him not a few defects.

The first translations and adaptations to the Spanish theater were the subject of numerous debates, and not a few tirades by their many detractors.

The situation remained that way for decades, but little by little, Shakespeare's unsustainable quality was acquiring nature charter in Spain and the rest of Europe until it became the reference of quality and excellence that it is today.

This exciting process of adaptation to Spanish tastes and triumph among critics is thoroughly explained by Professor Emeritus of the University of Murcia Ángel-Luis Pujante in the book "Shakespeare arrives in Spain. Illustration and Romanticism" (Machado Libros, Madrid, 2019), which deepens the relationship of his work with our country and its reception by critics since the first Spanish editions.

The book is a study of the avatars in which his work was wrapped from his arrival "in the eighteenth century until the middle of the nineteenth century, when his work was already accepted, after many resistance, reluctance and doubts," says the author , which refers in the book that the discovery of Shakespeare in the Age of Enlightenment entailed a paradox: "The spirit of intellectual, scientific and humanistic curiosity of the time led to interest in other countries and cultures, but the French classicist poetics prevented accepting fully foreign if it did not conform to its rules and conventions, so Shakespeare became a literary phenomenon that fascinated and bothered: they seduced the vigor and fecundity of his genius; they contradicted his lack of taste, his mixture of the tragic and the comic , of the noble and the commoner. "

The first works that are represented by Shakespeare in Spain since the 18th century are translated from French, and also adapt to the scene, says Pujante.

In 1838, a work translated directly from English (Macbeth), which provokes great controversy in the press, is represented for the first time.

In it the Murcian Julian Romea intervened, and its premiere was surrounded by a certain scandal, since, apparently, the turn reverers also audibly intervened, as the professor emeritus of the UMU.

Given this accumulation of vested interests, it is difficult to elucidate the extent to which this Macbeth had a good reception or not, but that was the first stone to normalize Shakespeare's play in the theater and begin to recognize him as the best playwright in the world.

This was stated in the thirties of the nineteenth century Alberto Lista, one of the great critics of the moment, who had been reserved a few years before about his work.

The book is an illustrative journey along this path to the success of Shakespeare in our country, starting from a position of suspicion and even bitter opposition: comments in the press about the playwright and his work since the end of the 18th century;

the posture of intellectuals like Moratín (which Hamlet translated);

the critics;

the 'otelomanía' that was created in Spain in the 19th century and to which the Cartagena actor Isidoro Máiquez contributed decisively;

the arrival of the 'Romeos' or the importance of exiles like Alcalá Galiano or Blanco White at the Spanish reception of Shakespeare's work.

Ángel-Luis Pujante has been working since 2000 on the R&D project "The presence of Shakespeare in Spain in the framework of its European reception" (www.um.es/shakespeare), of which he has been its principal investigator, He is honorary president of ESRA (European Shakesperare Research Association), and has been a translator of most of the dramatical work of the English author.

Source: Universidad de Murcia