The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 20.0259  Wednesday, 27 May 2009

From:       Jim Carroll <
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Date:       Thursday, 21 May 2009 11:16:44 -0400
Subject:    Shakespeare/"Star Trek"

In his very entertaining review of the new "Star Trek" movie (The New 
Yorker, May 18, 2009), Anthony Lane wrote:

"Here, in other words, is a long-range backstory -- a device that, in 
the Hollywood of recent times, has grown from an option to a fetish . . 
. In all narratives, there is a beauty to the merely given, as the 
narrator does us the honor of trusting that we will take it for granted. 
Conversely, there is something offensive in the implication that we 
might resent that pact, and, like plaintive children, demand to have 
everything explained. Shakespeare could have kicked off with a flashback 
in which the infant Hamlet is seen wailing with indecision as to which 
of Gertrude's breasts he should latch onto, but would it really have 
helped us to grasp the dithering prince?"

Jim Carroll

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