Horace Howard Furness

Horace Howard Furness (2 November 1833 - August 13, 1912 ) was the most important American Shakespeare scholar of the 19th century.

Life and work

He was the son of the Unitarian clergyman and abolitionist William Henry Furness (1802-1896) and the brother of American architect Frank Furness ( 1839-1912 ). In 1854, he earned a degree at Harvard University and then studied in Germany. After his return to the U.S., he was inducted into the " Philadelphia Bar Association " in 1859, but did not because of his increasing deafness no longer practice the profession of lawyers. He married Helen Kate Rogers, sister of Fairman Rogers. The couple had four children.

In 1860 he was included in the " Shakespeare Society of Philadelphia ", a lay organization that the serious study of Shakespeare's works devoted himself. Furness later described this way:

" Each member had a copy of the Variorum of 1821, whom we assumed that in it on each piece the entire Shakespearean tradition is included. What was new since that time, was found distributed in various editions and countless literary works. These scattered collect items was a real slog, but necessary if you wanted to avoid that all work would be in vain. "

As the editor of the "New Variorum " (sometimes also called " Furness Variorum " ) he took all the text variants and commentaries on the works of Shakespeare from a period of over 300 years combined into a single output. Furness worked more than 40 years on "his " Variorum and completed the edition of 15 dramas. Together with his wife Helen Kate Furness (1837-1883), he published a concordance to Shakespeare's sonnets. A Concordance to Shakespeare's Poems (1874 ). His son Horace Howard Furness, Jr. (1865-1930) served as co-editor of the late volumes and continued his father's work continued after his death. He published five other pieces.

Furness was a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, Chairman of the Gründungskommitees and longtime trustee (1880-1904) to their library. His brother Frank designed the stained glass windows of the library and Furness Shakespeare himself sought quotes from it. He advised the doctoral student Emily Jordan Folger, the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC founded with her husband, Henry Clay Folger. Furness was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

A review in Blackwood 's Magazine from 1890 gives an idea of ​​the esteem in which Furness has learned from British critics:

"With the issue of 'The Variorum Edition of Shakespeare, ' America has presented the honor of the best and most complete edition of our great poet, which gives it so far. Text, illustrations, comments and criticism leave nothing to be desired. The editor with the patience and care of scholars connected a Fleiss, the nothing of value is escaped, which was written by German, French and English on Shakespeare. , and to accurately estimate little low is the fact that he has understanding of art and judgment, familiar with the best of the antique and the contemporary literature is and knows how to bring all of this with Erfog apply. "

The " Modern Language Association of America" ​​has continued Furness work with the intention of reissuing all of Shakespeare's plays as Variorum.

Honors

1880 Furness was appointed a member of the American Philosophical Society. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Harvard University, the University of Halle, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and the University of Cambridge. In 1905 he was appointed a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Legacy

  • The " Helen Kate Furness Free Library " in Wallingford, Pennsylvania ( named after his wife ) was built on the site of his former country house " Linde Shade ".
  • Horace Howard Furness High School The South Philadelphia is named after his son.
  • His son Horace Jr. bequeathed the Shakespeare collection of his father at the University of Pennsylvania, whose " Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library ," both honors.

New Variorum

Horace Howard Furness editorship

  • Romeo and Juliet (published 1871)
  • Macbeth (1873 )
  • Hamlet vol. 1 (1877 )
  • Hamlet vol. 2 (1877 )
  • King Lear (1880 )
  • Othello ( 1886)
  • Merchant of Venice (1888 )
  • As You Like It ( 1890)
  • The Tempest (1892 )
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream ( 1895)
  • The Winter's Tale ( 1898)
  • Twelfth Night (1901 )
  • Much Ado About Nothing ( 1904)
  • Anthony and Cleopatra (1907 )
  • Richard III (1908 )
  • Cymbeline (1913 ) ( published posthumously )

Editorship of H. H. Furness, Jr.

  • Julius Caesar (1913 )
  • Macbeth (revised)
  • Merchant of Venice (revised)
  • King John (1919)
  • Coriolanus (1928 )

Secondary literature

  • Gibson, James M. The Philadelphia Shakespeare Story: Horace Howard Furness and the New Variorum Shakespeare ( New York: AMS Press, 1990 )
  • Repplier, Agnes, " Horace Howard Furness, " The Atlantic Monthly, Nov. 1912.
  • Williams, Talcott, " Appreciations of Horace Howard Furness: Our Great Shakespeare Critic, " The Century Magazine, November 1912.
November 2 William Shakespeare Abolitionism Isaac Reed (Maine)
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