Jan H. Blits – författare

The human soul is for pre-modern philosophers the cause of both thinking and life. This double aspect of the soul, which makes man a rational animal, expresses itself above all in human action. Deadly Thought: 'Hamlet' and the Human Soul traces Hamlet's famous inability to act to his inability to hold together these twin aspects of the soul. Combining careful attention to detail and interpretive breadth, noted scholar Jan H. Blits deftly illustrates how Hamlet collapses life into thought, and moral action into stage acting, and ultimately comes to see his own life as a stage play. Hamlet, the book demonstrates, epitomizes the intellectualism of the Renaissance and the modern age it began, and so becomes tragedy's first self-conscious protagonist, signaling the end of ancient tragedy. Erudite, innovative, and lively, Deadly Thought is a ground-breaking contribution that will appeal to Shakespeare scholars, political theorists, historians of philosophy, literary theorists and anyone interested in a truly fresh interpretation of this classic work.

The Soul of Athens: Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' studies Shakespeare's portrayal of the founding of Athens through a close reading of one of the Bard's most memorable comedies. Through a painstakingly close reading of the play, author Jan H. Blits shows how Shakespeare's portrayal of this legendary first democracy illuminates the natural doubleness of the human soul by emphasizing the lure of both beauty and wisdom.A Midsummer Night's Dream is thus Shakespeare's examination not only of a particular city at a particular time, but of the essential duality of the human soul. Coupling careful attention to detail with interpretive breadth, The Soul of Athens examines the nature of love, the natural doubleness of human thinking and the ambiguous relation of image and reality, as well as patriarchy and democracy, and heroic and moral virtue.

Spirit, Soul, and City offers a new reading of Coriolanus, Shakespeare's most political play and the last of his great tragedies. Portraying the founding of the Roman republic and the life and soul of its legendary warrior, Coriolanus, the play brings to light not only the hidden working of Rome's mixed regime but the inherent tragic tensions in the soul's spirited tendency to strive to go beyond itself in order to be true to itself. Distinguished scholar Jan H. Blits provides a fresh interpretation of this rich, complex, and often perplexing play, combining meticulous detail and insightful breadth. Proceeding line-by-line through the play, this book reaches its conclusions by closely examining Shakespeare's text—his plot, characters, language, structure, allusions, puzzles, and other devices.

Patterned after his previous books on Shakespeare's plays, Jan H. Blits's New Heaven, New Earth is a scene-by-scene, line-by-line philosophical study of Antony and Cleopatra. Combining close attention to detail with interpretive breadth, Blits approaches Shakespeare as a first-rank thinker who, master of his own thought and writing, produced plays and poetry with an infinitely conscious art, like any commonly recognized philosophical poet. Treating the play as a fully coherent whole, Blits shows that Antony and Cleopatra, as much a history play as a love story, depicts the transition from the pagan to the Christian world—from the aftermath of the collapse of the Roman Republic and the decline of the pagan gods to the emergence of the Roman Empire and the conditions giving rise to Christianity. Instead of being organized thematically, New Heaven, New Earth follows the play from beginning to end, closely examining Shakespeare's text on its own terms and not on the terms of modern literary theory. Using this approach, Blits draws significant and insightful conclusions that will satisfy the interests of scholars of politics, literature, and history alike.

Patterned after his previous books on Shakespeare's plays, Jan H. Blits's New Heaven, New Earth is a scene-by-scene, line-by-line philosophical study of Antony and Cleopatra. Combining close attention to detail with interpretive breadth, Blits approaches Shakespeare as a first-rank thinker who, master of his own thought and writing, produced plays and poetry with an infinitely conscious art, like any commonly recognized philosophical poet. Treating the play as a fully coherent whole, Blits shows that Antony and Cleopatra, as much a history play as a love story, depicts the transition from the pagan to the Christian world—from the aftermath of the collapse of the Roman Republic and the decline of the pagan gods to the emergence of the Roman Empire and the conditions giving rise to Christianity. Instead of being organized thematically, New Heaven, New Earth follows the play from beginning to end, closely examining Shakespeare's text on its own terms and not on the terms of modern literary theory. Using this approach, Blits draws significant and insightful conclusions that will satisfy the interests of scholars of politics, literature, and history alike.

Turning, Telling Moments in the Classical Political World examines developments in the classical political world which are both turning and telling moments. All the moments—from Theseus's founding of Athens to Augustus's establishment of the Principate—possess the double character of being turning points and revealing fundamental aspects of the ancient political world. While most books on ancient history are chiefly concerned with questions of literary sources and historical accuracy, this book deals with the significance of the facts and reports themselves. Blits treats the ancient histories as works of reflection rather than works of research. Instead of focusing on whether, or how, the ancient historians meet the professional standards of present-day historiography, Blits reveals the way they themselves understand-and intend us to understand-the ancient world.

While recent criticism of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar has stressed the corruption of both the common people and the Republic's enemies within the patrician class, this book argues that at the core of the play lies the less obvious but more important corruption of the regime's leading defenders, particularly Brutus.

Rome and the Spirit of Caesar, providing a fresh interpretation of Julius Caesar, is a thorough examination of Shakespeare’s presentation of the final throes of republican Rome’s political decay and demise and the rise of Caesarism. As in his previous studies of Shakespeare’s plays, Blits, pursuing his distinctive approach, follows Caesar through, scene by scene, speech by speech, line by line, reaching his conclusions by closely examining Shakespeare’s text. Approaching the play as a coherent whole, he examines the whole in the light of its parts and the parts in the light of the whole. Since each presupposes the other, he considers the whole and its parts together. He carefully relates the play’s details to its major themes and grounds the themes in, and supports them by, the details.While intruding no literary theory on the play, Blits brings out the historical and perennial political substance that Shakespeare deliberately put into it. He shows that Caesar is a work of historical poetry, shaped by Shakespeare’s mastery of the Roman histories and the Hellenistic philosophies bearing directly on his subject. Topics include the love of honor and fame, heroic ambition and glory, virtue and honor, civic strife, political murder, the role of political oratory, public versus private interests, Caesarism, the decay of liberty, loyalty, demagoguery, luxury, spiritedness, superstition, Stoicism and Epicureanism, manliness, friendship, moral intimidation, political imprudence, foreign and civil war, universal empire, and the advent of Christianity.

Rome and the Spirit of Caesar, providing a fresh interpretation of Julius Caesar, is a thorough examination of Shakespeare’s presentation of the final throes of republican Rome’s political decay and demise and the rise of Caesarism. As in his previous studies of Shakespeare’s plays, Blits, pursuing his distinctive approach, follows Caesar through, scene by scene, speech by speech, line by line, reaching his conclusions by closely examining Shakespeare’s text. Approaching the play as a coherent whole, he examines the whole in the light of its parts and the parts in the light of the whole. Since each presupposes the other, he considers the whole and its parts together. He carefully relates the play’s details to its major themes and grounds the themes in, and supports them by, the details.While intruding no literary theory on the play, Blits brings out the historical and perennial political substance that Shakespeare deliberately put into it. He shows that Caesar is a work of historical poetry, shaped by Shakespeare’s mastery of the Roman histories and the Hellenistic philosophies bearing directly on his subject. Topics include the love of honor and fame, heroic ambition and glory, virtue and honor, civic strife, political murder, the role of political oratory, public versus private interests, Caesarism, the decay of liberty, loyalty, demagoguery, luxury, spiritedness, superstition, Stoicism and Epicureanism, manliness, friendship, moral intimidation, political imprudence, foreign and civil war, universal empire, and the advent of Christianity.

The essays in this book examine the political activities and institutions of pre-Imperial Rome in conjunction with the habits of the hearts and the minds of the Romans. Relying on the writings of ancient authors, the essays analyze significant political developments and events. They attempt to draw out the meaning of what the authors say and impose no theory on the ancient writings. Nor do they pursue the methodological techniques of contemporary historiography. While avoiding such common present-day anachronisms, they take their guidance directly from the ancient historians themselves and examine their understanding of Rome’s political history and culture. Harking back to the ancient view that a political culture or regime is both a city’s form of government and its way of life, the essays, trying to be true to the full character of Roman political life, seek to understand the political activities and the souls of the Romans, and to understand each in the light of the other.

Jan Blits' edition represents something new among editions of Julius Caesar. In addition to textual glosses and explanatory notes focused on the rhetorical, historical, and political contexts of the speeches, it includes a wide array of quotations and citations from writers of classical antiquity chosen to illuminate passages of special pertinence to the Roman world represented in the play. Highlighting Shakespeare's significance as a political thinker, it also demonstrates his deep understanding of Roman antiquity, its competing worldviews, and the demise of its Republic. Intended for a broad readership, the edition also includes a Preface, Introduction, Bibliography, and a topical Index.

"This edition of Antony and Cleopatra gives contemporary readers access to Shakespeare’s meaning as no other edition does. While other editors may provide basic information about the historical setting of the play, Jan Blits makes palpable the shape and feel of the world in which the action unfolds. His annotations citing classical authors reveal a world of possibility that would have been available to earlier generations, that Shakespeare would have taken for granted, and that is lost on readers today. His excellent Introduction frames the drama in terms of questions regarding the relative place of the public and private in the polity’s life, the claims of the universal and the national on the allegiance of citizens, and the meaning of nobility that will be highly provocative for anyone interested in Shakespeare as a political thinker." —Joseph Alulis, North Park University

This edition is the first that treats Hamlet as the work of a philosophical poet concerned with knowing the nature of the world, particularly the human world. Where conventional editions lift the play out of its specific setting and analyze it in the light of the social, cultural, and political circumstances of Elizabethan England, Jan Blits takes the play’s dramatic setting of early Renaissance Denmark as indispensable to understanding its rich meaning. In providing notations and commentary on Hamlet, Blits sets aside the historicist principle or prejudice, pervasive throughout literary studies today.  Blits, by contrast, strives to understand the play entirely on its own terms. He inflicts no literary or philosophic theory—no parochial professional preconceptions—upon the play. Instead, he aims to be fully receptive to what Shakespeare wrote and try to draw out of the play the substance that he deliberately put into it. His treatment of Horatio is particularly stunning in this regard. Though they differ from each other, there are two generally trustworthy texts of Hamlet—namely, the Second Quarto (1604–5) and the Folio (1623). Blits does not consult the First Quarto (1603), which contains a much different dialogue, some different character names, and omits some famous passages. Blits points out important variations and refrains from pronouncing which are clearly right or wrong. He omits references to secondary works (including his own) as distractions from the play itself. The Bibliography lists many primary and secondary readings that readers will find helpful. He follows the line-numbering of the New Cambridge Shakespeare Edition, edited by Philips Edwards.Teachers and students of Shakespeare will find a valuable resource in Blits' new edition of Hamlet, which brings readers as close to the mind and heart of the real Shakespeare as possible and remains untouched by the fingerprints of literary theory and other mechanisms unknown and inconsequential to Shakespeare. This is also an indispensable tool in helping teachers in one of the greatest challenges of the classical classroom––namely, how to teach Shakespeare?

"This edition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream takes the comedy seriously. Like my previous Hackett editions, it gives full weight to Shakespeare’s dramatic setting, which other editors (and scholars) almost always ignore or at least fail adequately to consider. Ancient Athens is the core, not the mere background, of Midsummer Night's Dream. As we shall see, Shakespeare focuses, in particular, on the love of the beautiful and the triumph of learning and art, along with the rise of democracy, which, as Pericles’ famously claims, are the hallmarks of Athens. 'We are lovers of the beautiful with thrift, and lovers of wisdom without softness' (Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, 2.40.1). […]Failure to consider classical Athens as central to Midsummer Night's Dream will cause a reader to miss not only the play’s remarkable substance, but much of its sparkling comedy as well. Far from impeding the play’s humor, focusing on Athens helps to bring out multi-layers of comedy that Shakespeare put there."