Eight Hamlets

The study of the humanities today cries out for revolutionary change. Pickled in jargon and preaching to the choir, so-called Theory floats free of practice. Specialists enmeshed in esoteric superfluities fiddle with abandon while Rome burns. Literature becomes the alleged possession of an ever-shrinking coterie, until it dries up and blows away. To bring the news of great art, and thought, to the public should be the central purpose of education. To bring great works to life, to show their vital relevance to our brief term on earth, to excite, to challenge, to expand the mind, touch the heart and feed the soul, to connect with other human beings, close to home and at the ends of the earth: this is progress, and progress is possible. This book proposes a direction of progress in the understanding of Hamlet, by examining the interpretations of Bradley, Goddard, Jenkins, Cavell, Bloom, Greenblatt and Garber. The eighth Hamlet, the point of view I compare with the others’, is mine.