The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 22.0312 Monday, 28 November 2011
From: Richard Waugaman <
Date: Saturday, 26 Nov 2011 18:01:35 -0500
Subject: Updike on Hamlet
My copy of John Updike's posthumous collection of essays, Higher Criticism, just arrived today. I recommend his letter to the Boston Globe, about his 2000 Hamlet prequel, the novel Gertrude and Claudius.
Updike writes, for example, "Several Shakespeare commentaries, especially one by the Spanish thinker Salvador de Madariaga, helped me see that Hamlet is in fact the callous, egocentric villain of Hamlet." By contrast, "I love Gertrude, and always have."
I'm not implying I agree.
Richard Waugaman