Hamlet's Heirs: Shakespeare and The Politics of a New Millennium

by Linda Charnes

Overview

Speaking to readers in a voice that is adventurous rather than authoritative, innovative rather than institutional and speculative rather than orthodox, Linda Charnes’ provocative study of Shakespeare’s legacy in contemporary American and British politics explores the following themes:

• namesake princes and presidents
• stolen thrones and elections
• plutocrats and insurgents
• campaign trails and war-mongering
• waning monarchy and imperilled democracy
• revengers, early modern and postmodern.

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’ 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138834880
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/01/2015
Series:	Accents on Shakespeare
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Linda Charnes

Table of Contents

1 Introduction: Passing which Torch? 2 The Fetish of ‘the Modern’ 3 Dismember Me: Shakespeare, Paranoia, and the Noir World Order 4 We Were Never Early Modern 5 The Hamlet Formerly Known as Prince 6 It’s the Monarchy, Stupid 7 Operation Enduring Hamlet 8 Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

'A rigorous, theoretically based mining of the assumptions and anxieties underlining life in the Western world today ... Hamlet's Heirs brilliantly questions and challenges pervasive assumptions and business as usual in the arenas of both literary theory and contemporary politics.' – Renaissance Quarterly

'Balances irreverent wit with penetrating critical insight while discussing, respectively, how Anglo-American political traditions have sought to reconcile the notions of filial entitlement and meritocratic democracy.' —Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900

'In Hamlet's Heirs, Charnes takes Hamlet through several complementary iterations, creating a multifaceted portrait: historical, psychological, theoretical, pop-cultural, and primarily political. She weaves complex readings of sociology and poststructuralism with her own expert observations into an often brilliant tapestry... Linda Charnes has given us new ways to see how Hamlet pitches us into our own time and, without a doubt, beyond.' - Shakespeare Quarterly

'I found myself turning the pages irresistably because provoked into wanting to re-read and re-think Hamlet, despite having edited Hamlet Studies for twenty-five years.' R.W. Desai, The Shakespeare Newsletter

In Hamlet's Heirs, Charnes takes Hamlet through several complementary iterations, creating a multifaceted portrait: historical, psychological, theoretical, pop-cultural, and primarily political. She weaves complex readings of sociology and poststructuralism with her own expert observations into an often brilliant tapestry. To place Hamlet in our time clarifies Shakespearean nightmares of ideological instability, cynical idealism, and disavowal—thus bringing into focus the political unconscious of the American electorate at the moment. Charnes's willingness to risk and pursue such connections is an act of critical bravery and significance...her deployment of structural and characterological analogies between eras is the metacritical triumph of the book. Linda Charnes has given us new ways to see how Hamlet pitches us into our own time and, without a doubt, beyond. - Shakespeare Quarterly

Hamlet's Heirs is a rich and suggestive meditation on Shakespeare's least closural, most culturally and, yes, politically seminal play. Linda Charnes has given us new ways to see how Hamlet pitches us into our own time and, without a doubt, beyond.' – Shakespeare Quarterly

'Charnes's willingness to risk and her deployment of structural and characterological analogies between eras is the metacritical glory of the book.' – Shakespeare Quarterly

'A rigorous, theoretically based mining of the assumptions and anxieties underlining life in the Western world today ... Hamlet's Heirs brilliantly questions and challenges pervasive assumptions and business as usual in the arenas of both literary theory and contemporary politics.' – Renaissance Quarterly

'Balances irreverent wit with penetrating critical insight while discussing, respectively, how Anglo-American political traditions have sought to reconcile the notions of filial entitlement and meritocratic democracy.' - Studies in English Literature

From the Publisher