Kurt Kreiler releases German commentary on de Vere's poetry

by Linda Theil

Neue Shake-speareGesellschaft (New Shakespeare Society) board member Hanno Wember of Hamburg, Germany reports that Kurt Kreiler’s new book, Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford -- The Thriftless Threadwhich Pampered Beauty Spins, was released by leading German publisher Suhrkamp/Insel on November 11, 2013. The book features commentary and translation into German of the poems of Edward de Vere (1550-1604).

“The book - although in German - is bilingual concerning the poems. Interested people can at least read the poems in the original language,” Wember said. “ Suhrkamp/Insel is is one of the leading German publishing houses in literature.”

Wember translated two paragraphs from the publisher’s webpage from German into English to give a sense of the content of Kreiler’s book about de Vere’s poems:

Edward de Vere, Earl of OxfordDer zarte Faden, den die Schönheit spinn (“The thriftless thread which pamper’d beauty spins”)One Hundred PoemsEdited and translated by Kurt KreilerSuhrkamp / Insel, 401 p, 24,95 €2013 Discovery of the early poetic workA hundred poems of the man who invented Shakespeare We look surprised at the work of a young writer of the sixteenth century, whom the history of English literature does not know or treated as marginal. His poems have charisma, intelligence and determination. The poet - Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford (1550-1604) - hides his name from the beginning behind the veil of various pseudonyms: Meritum petere grave (It's hard to ask for the deserved), Fortunatus Infoelix (The unhappy delighted), Ferenda Natura (The nature which has to be endured), Spraeta tamen vivunt (The despised still lives), My lucke is losse, Phaeton. From 1593 (in the fall of this year, a narrative poem, Venus and Adonis appears under the name of William Shakespeare), it is then the only one: William Shakespeare.

These hundred poems of an experienced actor (rollenkundig), mocker, language-loving (sprachverliebt) dialectician, which revolve almost all around the positive - and negative - existence of love and rejection, desire and aversion, passion and taming, are a new release in the world of literature. They do not win their value by attribution to William Shakespeare. Reversed: Their quality supports the theory that Edward de Vere published from 1593 under the pseudonym William Shakespeare. (See NOTE below.)

Kurt Kreiler is the author of Der Mann, der Shakespeare erfand (The Man Who Invented Shakespeare): Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford 1550-1604 that was published by Insel Verlag in 2009 and created a great deal of interest in the German press at the time of its publication. More information about Kreiler’s Der Mann is available at http://shakespeareoxfordsociety.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/der-mann/

The Naked Shakespeare DVD available

Wember also reported that the German film -- The Naked Shakespeare by director Claus Bredenbrock – that was screened the SOS/SF annual conference in Toronto last month was presented with an Award of Excellence from The Indie: a showcase forcinematic gems and unique voices. The Naked Shakespeare is listed under its production company Westdeutscher Rundfunk (Germany) and was presented the award of excellence for work in the field of arts/cultural/performance/plays.

Wember says the subtitled DVD of The Naked Shakespeare costs about $25 including shipping and handling and may be ordered by sending an email requesting the film and including your mailing address to the Neue Shake-speare Gesellschaft at Gesellschaft@shake-speare-today.de. Customers will be billed when the DVD is shipped and may pay via Pay Pal. Wember may be reached directly at wember@gmx.net.

NOTE from Hanno Wembler regarding this translation:Kreiler used - or even created - some unique German words which no dictionary includes:rollenkundig (adjective): a person who knows how to play a role on the stage is rollenkundig.sprachverliebt (adjective): a person who is fallen in love with language is sprachverliebt.