{{Short description|German philologist (1834–1897)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}} {{Infobox person | name = Michael Bernays | image = | caption = Michael Bernays | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_date = {{birth date|1834|11|27|df=y}} | birth_place = Hamburg | death_date = {{death date and age|1897|02|25|1834|11|24|df=y}} | alma_mater = | occupation = literary historian | notable_works = | parents = Isaac Bernays }}
'''Michael Bernays''' (27 November 1834{{snd}}25 February 1897) was a German literary historian,<ref>{{cite book |last= Benjamin |first= Walter W. |author-link= |date= 17 June 1999 |title= Selected Writings: 1927-1934, Volume 2 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=q7ynmOJcNdoC | access-date= 6 March 2022 |location= Cambridge| publisher= Harvard University Press| page= 464 | isbn= 978-0-674-94586-9}}</ref> and an important Goethe and Shakespeare scholar.<ref name="auto">{{cite book |last= Theweleit |first= Klaus |author-link= |date= 17 May 1994|title= Object Choice: All You Need is Love | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=mTvGvbjSUfYC | access-date= 6 March 2022 |location= London | publisher= Verso | page= 43 | isbn= 978-0-860-91642-0}}</ref>
==Life== He was born in Hamburg. His father, Isaac Bernays, died when he was 14 years old. His adjustments were radically different from that of his two brothers, Jacob Bernays and Berman Bernays (1826–1879), due to the traumatic loss of his father at an early age or other factors.<ref>{{cite book |last= Rice |first= Emanuel |author-link= |date= 1 January 1990|title= Freud and Moses: The Long Journey Home | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=JhbDnT74kWEC | access-date= 6 March 2022 |location= Albany (New York) | publisher= SUNY Press | page= 100 | isbn= 978-0-791-40453-9}}</ref> He first studied law and then literature at the University of Bonn and Heidelberg University.
==Career== He obtained a considerable reputation by his lectures on Shakespeare at Leipzig University and an explanatory text to Beethoven's music to Egmont. Having refused in 1866 an invitation to take part in the editorship of the ''Preussische Jahrbücher'', in the same year he published his celebrated ''Zur Kritik und Geschichte des Goetheschen Textes''.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Bernays, Jakob|display=Bernays, Jakob s.v.|volume=3|page=800}}</ref>
He confirmed his reputation by his lectures at Leipzig University, and in 1873 accepted the post of extraordinary professor of German literature at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München specially created for him by Ludwig II of Bavaria. Thus, he became the first ever professor of modern German literary history at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. For a while, he was reader to Ludwig II of Bavaria.<ref name="auto"/> In 1874, he became an ordinary professor, a position which he resigned only in 1889 when he settled in Karlsruhe. He died there on 25 February 1897.<ref name="EB1911"/>
Along with Ludwig Geiger, he started a critical Goethe philosophy. Geiger edited the influential ''Goethe-Jahrbuch'' for more than thirty years.<ref>{{cite book |last= Berghahn |first= Klaus L. |author-link= |date= 1 May 2001|title= Goethe in German-Jewish Culture| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=v2vs5lED6b4C |access-date= 6 March 2022 |location= Camden East, Canada | publisher= Camden House | page= xi | isbn= 978-1-571-13323-6}}</ref>
At an early age, he became a Jewish Christian, whereas his brother Jacob remained a Rabbinical Jew. Among his other publications were: ''Briefe Goethes an F. A. Wolf'' (1868); ''Zur Entstehungsgeschichte des Schlegelschen Shakespeare'' (1872); and an introduction to Hirzel's collection entitled ''Der junge Goethe'' (1875). He also edited a revised edition of Voss's translation of the ''Odyssey''. From his literary remains were published ''Schriften zur Kritik und Litteraturgeschichte'' (1895–1899).<ref name="EB1911"/>
== Works == * ''Zur Kritik und Geschichte des Goetheschen-Textes'' (1866) * ''Briefe Goethes an F. A. Wolf'' (1868) * ''Zur Entstehungsgeschichte des Schlegelschen Shakespeare''. Leipzig 1872, new ed. Celtis Verlag, Berlin 2013, {{ISBN|978-3-944253-02-2}} * An introduction to Hirzel's collection entitled ''Der junge Goethe'' (1875) * A revised edition of Voss's translation of the ''Odyssey'' * (from his literary remains) ''Schriften zur Kritik und Litteraturgeschichte'' (1895–1899)
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=886&letter=B Michael Bernays] on the Jewish Encyclopedia. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120425061608/http://en.messianicjudaismwiki.com/wiki/Michael_Bernays Michael Bernays] on [https://archive.today/20121205213430/http://en.messianicjudaismwiki.com/ Messianic Judaism Wiki].
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{{EB1911 article with no significant updates}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernays, Michael}} Category:1834 births Category:1897 deaths Category:19th-century German Jews Category:University of Bonn alumni Category:Converts to Protestantism from Judaism Category:Goethe scholars