The rise of Eurosceptic parties across the continent and the threat posed by the war in Ukraine raise the questions: “What are European values? How far would we go to defend them?” Since the reception of Shakespeare’s works contributed to the emergence of the European spirit in many areas, the English playwright is regarded as a seismograph for societal and political developments in European history.

The reception of Shakespeare makes the development of the European spirit more tangible: he served as a platform and an engine of cultural exchange and was an important source of inspiration for European literature. Young poets of the Romantic era were inspired by the cult of genius and utilized it to implement their liberal ideas. At the same time, scholars explored the shared cultural origins of Europe.

Andreas T. Sturm, CDU state parliament member, Anglicist, and author of The Shakespeare Principle, will present his book Shakespeare and the Emergence of the European Spirit: The (Dark) Romanticism as a Period of Upheaval.