THE WORKS OF William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830): "莎士比亚戏剧中的人物" (Characters of Shakespeare's plays) Kings ought never to be seen upon the stage.

狂歡學說；亂臣/革命痞子 Lord of Misrule。《巴赫金：對話與狂歡》(北岡誠司)：日本諸神狂歡《古事記  天之岩戶   天照御神》以Mao Zedong: A Life，翻譯為 《胡鬧領主毛澤東：永不休止的顛覆與冒險》In the abstract,  PRETENTIONS 為例    

史景遷（Jonathan D. Spence, 1936~2021）   忌日，談其英文翻譯不容易，以Mao Zedong: A Life，翻譯 《胡鬧領主毛澤東：永不休止的顛覆與冒險》Lord of Misrule 為例 

Kings ought never to be seen upon the stage. In the abstract, they are very disagreeable characters: it is only while living that they are 'the best of kings'... and seen AS THEY WERE, their power and their pretensions 自稱/自命  look monstrous and ridiculous.
William Hazlitt








In the abstract
idiom

: without referring to a specific person, object, or event : in a general way
thinking about freedom in the abstract

Kings ought never to be seen upon the stage. In the abstract, they are very disagreeable characters: it is only while living that they are 'the best of kings'. It is their power, their splendour, it is the apprehension of the personal consequences of their favour or their hatred that dazzles the imagination and suspends the judgement of their favourites or their vassals; but death cancels the bond of allegiance and of interest; and seen AS THEY WERE, their power and their pretensions look monstrous and ridiculous.
William Hazlitt

In the abstract

idiom

: without referring to a specific person, object, or event : in a general way

thinking about freedom in the abstract

pretension

prɪˈtɛnʃ(ə)n/

noun

1. 1.

   a claim or assertion of a claim to something.

   "his pretensions to the imperial inheritance"

   synonyms:

   aspiration, claim, assertion, pretence, profession, purporting "the author firmly denies any pretension to exhaustive coverage"
2. 2.

   the use of affectation to impress; pretentiousness.

   "he spoke simply, without pretension"
3. 
   

自稱/自命 PRETENTIONS

石黑一雄（Kazuo Ishiguro），

2015年出版的《被埋葬的巨人》（The Buried Giant）翻譯成

《被埋葬的記憶》（The Buried Giant）

The Buried Giant is a fantasy novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British writer Kazuo Ishiguro, published in March 2015. The novel follows an elderly Briton couple, Axl and Beatrice, living in a fictional post-Arthurian England in which no-one is able to retain long-term memories. Wikipedia

2021年12月26日，著名歷史學家、中國史學者、耶魯大學榮譽教授 #史景遷（Jonathan D. Spence）於康乃狄克州家中逝世，享年85歲，如今一年已過。

《文化類同與文化利用》北大出版社，1997 (演講)

《胡鬧領主毛澤東：永不休止的顛覆與冒險》

Lord of Misrule

In the spirit of misrule, identified by the grinning masks in the corners, medieval floor tiles from the Derby Black Friary show a triumphant hunting hare mounted on a dog.

In England, the Lord of Misrule – known in Scotland as the Abbot of Unreason and in France as the Prince des Sots – was an officer appointed by lot during Christmastide to preside over the Feast of Fools. The Lord of Misrule was generally a peasant or sub-deacon appointed to be in charge of Christmas revelries, which often included drunkenness and wild partying.

The Church in England held a similar festival involving a boy bishop.^[1] This custom was abolished by Henry VIII in 1541, restored by the Catholic Mary I and again abolished by Protestant Elizabeth I, though here and there it lingered on for some time longer.^[2] On the Continent it was suppressed by the Council of Basel in 1431, but was revived in some places from time to time, even as late as the eighteenth century. In the Tudor period, the Lord of Misrule (sometimes called the Abbot of Misrule or the King of Misrule)^[1] is mentioned a number of times by contemporary documents referring to revels both at court and among the ordinary people.^[3][4][5]

While mostly known as a British holiday custom, some folklorists, such as James Frazer and Mikhail Bakhtin (who is said to have borrowed the novel idea from Frazer), have claimed that the appointment of a Lord of Misrule comes from a similar custom practised during the Roman celebration of Saturnalia.^[6][7] In ancient Rome, from 17 to 23 December (in the Julian calendar), a man chosen to be a mock king was appointed for the feast of Saturnalia, in the guise of the Roman deity Saturn;^[1] at the end of the festival, the man was sacrificed.^[6] This hypothesis has been heavily criticized by William Warde Fowler and as such, the Christmas custom of the Lord of Misrule during the Christian era and the Saturnalian custom of antiquity may have completely separate origins;^[6] the two separate customs, however, can be compared and contrasted.^[6][8]

Mao Zedong: A Life Paperback  2006

作者 Jonathan Spence (Author)

史景遷（Jonathan D. Spence )過世前2周，我沒直播的題目。

《第十二夜》得名於西方的傳統節日，基督教聖誕假期中的最後一夜為第十二夜，也就是一月六日的主顯節（Epiphany）。

台北書緣（46）：史景遷（Jonathan D. Spence, 1936~2021）著作簡述。《利瑪竇的記憶之宮》(台北輔仁大學1991；上海遠東2005；台北時報文化)The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci By Jonathan D. Spence 1985；  張 錯《利瑪竇入華及其它其它》(香港：城市大學，2002/2007)    

 2021年12月26日，著名歷史學家、中國史學者、耶魯大學榮譽教授 #史景遷（Jonathan D. Spence）於康乃狄克州家中逝世，享年85歲。史景遷一生著作極豐，包括《追尋現代中國》、《太平天國》、《改變中國》、《天安門》、《胡若望的疑問》、《利瑪竇的記憶宮殿》、《曹寅與康熙》等等。

史景遷：「我不覺得各文化間有明顯的衝突，中國與西方文化有很多複雜的交錯點。利瑪竇對中國文化並未完全理解，卻十分重視；他受中國經典的影響，認為儒學和基督教有著極大的相似性，對道德問題都有相同的關懷，對人類文明如人口、生態等具有共通性的問題，進行平行的追求。」

Stand News 立場新聞 

William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830) "莎士比亚戏剧中的人物" (Characters of Shakespeare's plays)

1778 William Hazlitt was born. Hazlitt developed a variety of identities as a writer: essayist, philosopher, critic of literature, drama and art, biographer, political commentator, and polemicist. Praised for his eloquence, he was also reviled by conservatives for his radical politics. His best-known essays include "The Indian Jugglers" and "The Fight," as well as more obscure pieces on politics, philosophy, and culture.

William Hazlitt on Meeting Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge

An excerpt from William Hazlitt’s 1823 essay “My First Acquaintance,” about his first encounter with the poet, who would become a kind of distant mentor.

THEPARISREVIEW.ORG

Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity is a greater. Possession pampers the mind; privation trains and strengthens it.

William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830)

William Hazlitt—born on April 10th 1778—was a man of prolific mental power. Over-intellectual modern-day critics should take a lesson from his capacity to write intelligently about emotion

William Hazlitt: the greatest essayist in English letters?

Essayist William Hazlitt was born on this day in 1778

ECON.ST

威廉·哈兹里特 "莎士比亚戏剧中的人物"

這本書大半可能30年前已有譯本
不過譯者說只參考一篇

Characters of Shakespear's plays - Google 圖書結果

William Hazlitt - 1817 - 352 頁

Hazlitt, William, 1778-1830

• Wikipedia
• Characters of Shakespeare's Plays (English) (as Author)
• Lectures on the English Poets
  Delivered at the Surrey Institution (English) (as Author)
• Liber Amoris, or, the New Pygmalion (English) (as Author)
• The Spirit of the Age
  Contemporary Portraits (English) (as Author)
• Table Talk
  Essays on Men and Manners (English) (as Author)

TWELFTH NIGHT; OR, WHAT YOU WILL

This is justly considered as one of the most delightful of
Shakespeare's comedies. It is full of sweetness and pleasantry. It
is perhaps too good-natured for comedy. It has little satire, and no
spleen. It aims at the ludicrous rather than the ridiculous. It
makes us laugh at the follies of mankind, not despise them, and
still less bear any ill-will towards them. Shakespeare's comic
genius resembles the bee rather in its power of extracting sweets
from weeds or poisons, than in leaving a sting behind it. He gives
die most amusing exaggeration of the prevailing foibles of his
characters, but in a way that they themselves, instead of being
offended at, would almost join in to humour; he rather contrives
opportunities for them to show themselves off in the happiest
lights, than renders them contemptible in the perverse construction
of the wit or malice of others.--There is a certain stage of society
in which people become conscious of their peculiarities and
absurdities, affect to disguise what they are, and set up
pretensions to what they are not. This gives rise to a corresponding
style of comedy, the object of which is to detect the disguises of
self-love, and to make reprisals on these preposterous assumptions
of vanity, by marking the contrast between the real and the affected
character as severely as possible, and denying to those who would
impose on us for what they are not, even the merit which they have.
This is the comedy of artificial life, of wit and satire, such as we
see it in Congreve, Wycherley, Vanbrugh, &c. To this succeeds a
state of society from which the same sort of affectation and
pretence are banished by a greater knowledge of the world or by
their successful exposure on the stage; and which by neutralizing
the materials of comic character, both natural and artificial,
leaves no comedy at all--but the sentimental. Such is our modern
comedy. There is a period in the progress of manners anterior to
both these, in which the foibles and follies of individuals are of
nature's planting, not the growth of art or study; in which they are
therefore unconscious of them themselves, or care not who knows
them, if they can but have their whim out; and in which, as there is
no attempt at imposition, the spectators rather receive pleasure
from humouring the inclinations of the persons they laugh at, than
wish to give them pain by exposing their absurdity. This may be
called the comedy of nature, and it is the comedy which we generally
find in Shakespeare.--Whether the analysis here given be just or
not, the spirit of his comedies is evidently quite distinct from
that of the authors above mentioned, as it is in its essence the
same with that of Cervantes, and also very frequently of Moliere,
though he was more systematic in his extravagance than Shakespeare.
Shakespeare's comedy is of a pastoral and poetical cast. Folly is
indigenous to the soil, and shoots out with native, happy, unchecked
luxuriance. Absurdity has every encouragement afforded it; and
nonsense has room to flourish in. Nothing is stunted by the
churlish, icy hand of indifference or severity. The poet runs riot
in a conceit, and idolizes a quibble. His whole object is to turn
the meanest or rudest objects to a pleasurable account. The relish
which he has of a pun, or of the quaint humour of a low character,
does not interfere with the delight with which he describes a
beautiful image, or the most refined love. The clown's forced jests
do not spoil the sweetness of the character of Viola; the same house
is big enough to hold Malvolio, the Countess, Maria, Sir Toby, and
Sir Andrew Aguecheek. For instance, nothing can fall much lower than
this last character in intellect or morals: yet how are his
weaknesses nursed and dandled by Sir Toby into something 'high
fantastical', when on Sir Andrew's commendation of himself for
dancing and fencing, Sir Toby answers: 'Wherefore are these things
hid? Wherefore have these gifts a curtain before them? Are they like
to take dust like Mistress Moll's picture? Why dost thou not go to
church in a galliard, and come home in a coranto? My very walk
should be a jig! I would not so much as make water but in a cinque-
pace. What dost thou mean? Is this a world to hide virtues in? I did
think by the excellent constitution of thy leg, it was framed under
the star of a galliard!'--How Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and the Clown
afterwards chirp over their cups, how they 'rouse the night-owl in a
catch, able to draw three souls out of one weaver'!--What can be
better than Sir Toby's unanswerable answer to Malvolio, 'Dost thou
think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and
ale?' In a word, the best turn is given to everything, instead of
the worst. There is a constant infusion of the romantic and
enthusiastic, in proportion as the characters are natural and
sincere: whereas, in the more artificial style of comedy, everything
gives way to ridicule and indifference, there being nothing left but
affectation on one side, and incredulity on the other.--Much as we
like Shakespeare's comedies, we cannot agree with Dr. Johnson that
they are better than his tragedies; nor do we like them half so
well. If his inclination to comedy sometimes led him to trifle with
the seriousness of tragedy, the poetical and impassioned passages
are the best parts of his comedies. The great and secret charm of
TWELFTH NIGHT is the character of Viola. Much as we like catches and
cakes and ale, there is something that we like better. We have a
friendship for Sir Toby; we patronize Sir Andrew; we have an
understanding with the Clown, a sneaking kindness for Maria and her
rogueries; we feel a regard for Malvolio, and sympathize with his
gravity, his smiles, his cross-garters, his yellow stockings, and
imprisonment in the stocks. But there is something that excites in
us a stronger feeling than all this--it is Viola's confession of her
love.

 Duke. What's her history?

 Viola. A blank, my lord, she never told her love:
   She let concealment, like a worm i' th' bud,
   Feed on her damask cheek, she pin'd in thought,
   And with a green and yellow melancholy,
   She sat like Patience on a monument,
   Smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed?
   We men may say more, swear more, but indeed,
   Our shows are more than will; for still we prove
   Much in our vows, but little in our love.

 Duke. But died thy sister of her love, my boy?

 Viola. I am all the daughters of my father's house,
   And all the brothers too; and yet I know not.

Shakespeare alone could describe the effect of his own poetry.

   Oh, it came o'er the ear like the sweet south
   That breathes upon a bank of violets,
   Stealing and giving odour.

What we so much admire here is not the image of Patience on a
monument, which has been generally quoted, but the lines before and
after it. 'They give a very echo to the seat where love is throned.'
How long ago it is since we first learnt to repeat them; and still,
still they vibrate on the heart, like the sounds which the passing
wind draws from the trembling strings of a harp left on some desert
shore! There are other passages of not less impassioned sweetness.
Such is Olivia's address to Sebastian whom she supposes to have
already deceived her in a promise of marriage.

   Blame not this haste of mine: if you mean well,
   Now go with me and with this holy man
   Into the chantry by: there before him,
   And underneath that consecrated roof,
   Plight me the full assurance of your faith,
   THAT MY MOST JEALOUS AND TOO DOUBTFUL SOUL
   MAY LIVE AT PEACE.

We have already said something of Shakespeare's songs. One of the
most beautiful of them occurs in this play, with a preface of his
own to it.

 Duke. O fellow, come, the song we had last night.
   Mark it, Cesario, it is old and plain;
   The spinsters and the knitters in the sun,
   And the free maids that weave their thread with bones,
   Do use to chaunt it; it is silly sooth,
   And dallies with the innocence of love,
   Like the old age.

              Song

Come away, come away, death,
  And in sad cypress let me be laid;
Fly away, fly away, breath;
  I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,
  O prepare it;
My part of death no one so true
  Did share it.

Not a flower, not a flower sweet,
  On my black coffin let there be strown;
Not a friend, not a friend greet
  My poor corpse, where my bones shall be thrown;
A thousand thousand sighs to save,
  Lay me, O! where
Sad true-love never find my grave,
  To weep there.

Who after this will say that Shakespeare's genius was only fitted
for comedy? Yet after reading other parts of this play, and
particularly the garden-scene where Malvolio picks up the letter, if
we were to say that his genius for comedy was less than his genius
for tragedy, it would perhaps only prove that our own taste in such
matters is more saturnine than mercurial.

 Enter Maria

 Sir Toby. Here comes the little villain:--How now, my
   Nettle of India?

 Maria. Get ye all three into the box-tree: Malvolio's
   coming down this walk: he has been yonder i' the sun,
   practising behaviour to his own shadow this half hour;
   observe him, for the love of mockery; for I know this letter
   will make a contemplative idiot of him. Close, in the name
   of jesting! Lie thou there; for here comes the trout that
   must be caught with tickling.

 [They hide themselves. Maria throws down a letter, and exit.]

 Enter Malvolio

 Malvolio. 'Tis but fortune; all is fortune. Maria once told
   me, she did affect me; and I have heard herself come thus
   near, that, should she fancy, it should be one of my complexion.
   Besides, she uses me with a more exalted respect
   than any one else that follows her. What should I think on't?

 Sir Toby. Here's an over-weening rogue!

 Fabian. O, peace! Contemplation makes a rare turkey-
   cock of him; how he jets under his advanced plumes!

 Sir Andrew. 'Slight, I could so beat the rogue:--

 Sir Toby. Peace, I say.

 Malvolio. To be Count Malvolio;--

 Sir Toby. Ah, rogue!

 Sir Andrew. Pistol him, pistol him.

 Sir Toby. Peace, peace!

 Malvolio. There is example for't; the lady of the Strachy
   married the yeoman of the wardrobe.

 Sir Andrew. Fire on him, Jezebel!

 Fabian. O, peace! now he's deeply in; look, how
   imagination blows him.

 Malvolio. Having been three months married to her,
   sitting in my chair of state,--

 Sir Toby. O for a stone bow, to hit him in the eye!

 Malvolio. Calling my officers about me, in my branch'd
   velvet gown; having come from a day-bed, where I have
   left Olivia sleeping.

 Sir Toby. Fire and brimstone!

 Fabian. O peace, peace!

 Malvolio. And then to have the humour of state: and
   after a demure travel of regard,--telling them, I know my
   place, as I would they should do theirs,--to ask for my
   kinsman Toby.--

 Sir Toby. Bolts and shackles!

 Fabian. O, peace, peace, peace! now, now.

 Malvolio. Seven of my people, with an obedient start,
   make out for him; I frown the while; and, perchance, wind
   up my watch, or play with some rich jewel. Toby approaches;
   curtsies there to me.

 Sir Toby. Shall this fellow live?

 Fabian. Though our silence be drawn from us with
   cares, yet peace.

 Malvolio. I extend my hand to him thus, quenching my
   familiar smile with an austere regard to control.

 Sir Toby. And does not Toby take you a blow o' the lips
   then?

 Malvolio. Saying--Cousin Toby, my fortunes having
   cast me on your niece, give me this prerogative of speech;--

 Sir Toby. What, what?

 Malvolio. You must amend your drunkenness.

 Fabian. Nay, patience, or we break the sinews of our
   plot.

 Malvolio. Besides, you waste the treasure of your time
   with a foolish knight--

 Sir Andrew. That's me, I warrant you.

 Malvolio. One Sir Andrew--

 Sir Andrew. I knew,'twas I; for many do call me fool.

 Malvolio. What employment have we here?     [Taking up the letter.]

The letter and his comments on it are equally good. If poor
Malvolio's treatment afterwards is a little hard, poetical justice
is done in the uneasiness which Olivia suffers on account of her
mistaken attachment to Cesario, as her insensibility to the violence
of the Duke's passion is atoned for by the discovery of Viola's
concealed love of him.

****

William Hazlitt (1778-1830) 
He was a renowned English essayist, literary critic, and social commentator during the Romantic period. He is celebrated for his insightful and eloquent writings on a wide range of subjects. Here are some key aspects of William Hazlitt and his notable works:
1. Essayist: Hazlitt is primarily known for his essays, which covered topics such as literature, art, politics, philosophy, and everyday life. His essays were marked by their clarity, wit, and deep analysis of human emotions and experiences.
2. "Lectures on the English Comic Writers" and "Lectures on the English Poets": Hazlitt delivered a series of lectures on English literature, which were later published as books. "Lectures on the English Comic Writers" (1819) and "Lectures on the English Poets" (1818) are among his influential works exploring the works of notable literary figures.
3. Literary Criticism: Hazlitt's literary criticism was highly regarded for its perceptive insights and passionate engagement with works of literature. He was a champion of the Romantic poets such as William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his critiques helped shape the understanding and appreciation of their works.
4. "The Spirit of the Age" (1825): In this collection of essays, Hazlitt provided portraits of his contemporaries, including poets, writers, politicians, and thinkers. He offered insightful commentary on their personalities, achievements, and contributions to society, providing a vivid snapshot of the cultural and intellectual landscape of his time.
5. Political and Social Commentary: Hazlitt was also known for his writings on political and social issues. He expressed liberal and radical views, advocating for principles such as freedom of speech, individual liberty, and social justice. His essays on topics such as the monarchy, Parliament, and the rights of the common people reflected his deep engagement with contemporary political debates.
6. Legacy: Hazlitt's legacy lies in his enduring contributions to English literature, criticism, and intellectual thought. His essays and lectures continue to be studied and appreciated for their insights into literature, society, and human nature, making him a significant figure in the Romantic literary tradition.
Overall, William Hazlitt's works exemplify a keen intellect, profound emotional depth, and a passionate engagement with the cultural, political, and literary currents of his time, establishing him as one of the most influential essayists and critics in English literary history.
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