Preface to Shakespeare

Em 1765 foi a lançada uma edição das obras completas de William Shakespeare aos cuidados do Doutor Johnson, e com este prefácio, que abria a série de oito volumes, tinha início a crítica moderna de um dos gênios literários mais celebrados de todos. Johnson, crítico impecável, e ele mesmo autor profícuo, traçou os caminhos que ainda hoje guiam nossa leitura incessante e sempre renovada de Shakespeare: em primeiro lugar, que o autor de Hamlet, Macbeth, Rei Lear e A tempestade não era apenas poeta, mas homem de teatro ― ator, produtor, dramaturgo. Depois, que seus personagens não são propriamente heróis clássicos, mas homens que agem como o leitor ― ou o espectador ― agiria se estivesse na mesma situação. Enfim, e mais importante, que ele transcende seu tempo e espaço para tocar a natureza mesma do humano, e se tornar contemporâneo de todas as épocas.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), often referred to simply as Dr Johnson, was one of England's greatest literary figures: a poet, essayist, biographer, lexicographer and a critic of English literature. He was also a great wit and prose stylist, well known for his aphorisms. Between 1745 and 1755, Johnson wrote perhaps his best-known work, A Dictionary of the English Language. During the decade he worked on the Dictionary, Johnson, needing to augment his precarious income, also wrote a series of semi-weekly essays under the title The Rambler. These essays, often on moral and religious topics, tended to be more grave than the title of the series would suggest. They ran until 1752. Initially they were not popular, but once collected as a volume they found a large audience. Johnson's final major work was his Lives of the Poets (1781), comprising short biographies of about 50 English poets, most of whom were alive in the eighteenth century. Amongst his other works are The Idler (1758-1760), Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759) and The Patriot (1774).

Artes / Didáticos / Técnico / Literatura Estrangeira