Hamlet's heirs
Subtitle: Shakespeare & the politics of a new millennium
By: Linda Charnes.
Series: Accents on Shakespeare
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 152
Subjects: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Political and social views; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Influence; Political plays, English -- History and criticism; Politics and literature -- Great Britain; Inheritance and succession in literature; Hamlet (Legendary character); Monarchy in literature; Princes in literature
Description: "Namesake princes and presidents; stolen thrones and elections; plutocrats and insurgents; campaign trails and war-mongering, waning monarchy and imperiled democracy; and revengers, early modern and postmodern - these themes drive this provocative study of Shakespeare's legacy in contemporary American and British politics." "Linked by focused readings of Hamlet and the Henriad, the essays follow Shakespeare's two most famous royal sons, the princes Hamlet and Hal, as they haunt contemporary political psychology in the early years of a new millennium, and especially in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Between devolution in Britain and the new 'doctrine' of pre-emptive strike in the United States, our contemporary Hamlets and Hals epitomize a debate - as fraught now as in Shakespeare's day - about the cost of spin-doctoring legacies. In exploring how current political culture inherits Shakespeare, Hamlet's Heirs challenges scholarly assumptions about historical periodicity, modernity, and the uses of Shakespeare in present-day contexts." "Speaking to readers in a voice that is adventurous rather than authoritative, innovative rather than institutional, and speculative rather than orthodox, Charnes reveals that when it comes to legacy we are all, in one way or another, Hamlet's heirs."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The fetish of the modern; title: Dismember me : Shakespeare, paranoia, and the noir world order; title: We were never Early Modern; title: The Hamlet formerly known as prince; title: It's the monarchy, stupid; title: Operation enduring Hamlet.