This bibliography primarily lists texts directly relating to the German reception of The Merchant of Venice. General studies and testimonies of German-Jewish history, anti-Semitism or the 'second history' of National Socialism and the Holocaust¹⁾ have been omitted.

 

Outline of bibliography

(the links will take you to the respective sections in the German version of this website):

1. Theatre and memory

2. 'Theatralia Judaica'²⁾: Jews as agents and 'figures' in the (German) theatre

3. The German reception of Shakespeare – General accounts and analyses

4. The German reception of Merchant – Accounts and analyses

5. The German reception of Merchant – Contributions to the discourse  

     5.1 Academic discourse   

     5.2 Significant journalistic, literary and political texts (selection)   

     5.3 German translations of Merchant

6. Selected publications on relevant actors and directors

7. Selected further reading on the play and its international reception

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¹⁾ For an overview of the topic and respective current scholarship see Matthias Weiß, "Vom 'Zivilisationsbruch' zu einer Kultur des 'negativen Gedächtnisses': Der Umgang der Westdeutschen mit ihrer nationalsozialistischen Vergangenheit von 1945 bis zur Gegenwart," ed. Zeno Ackermann and Sabine Schülting, Shylock nach dem Holocaust: Zur Geschichte einer deutschen Erinnerungsfigur, Conditio Judaica (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2011.) 13–39.

²⁾ The term "Theatralia Judaica" is borrowed from Hans-Peter Bayerdörfer. See Bayerdörfer, ed., Theatralia Judaica: Emanzipation und Antisemitismus als Momente der Theatergeschichte: Von der Lessing-Zeit bis zur Shoah (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1992), as well as Theatralia Judaica II: Nach der Shoah: Israelisch-deutsche Theaterbeziehungen seit 1949 (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1996).