Biography
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), born in Stratford-upon-Avon and active in London from the late 1580s, is the most performed dramatist in the world and the central figure of English literature. His thirty-nine plays span tragedy (Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello), comedy (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing), history (the two tetralogies from Richard II to Richard III), and late romance (The Winter's Tale, The Tempest). His 154 sonnets rank among the supreme achievements of English lyric poetry. Shakespeare wrote for the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later the King's Men), co-owned the Globe Theatre, and retired to Stratford around 1611. His works have been translated into every major language; the German translations by August Wilhelm Schlegel, completed by Ludwig Tieck and his circle, made Shakespeare a foundational author of German literary culture as well.
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