This is the dust jacket blurb for the book:
Detached from Shakespeare’s English, Hamlet has been rewritten numerous times in European languages, the various translations into any one language jostling with each other for dominance and spawning new Hamlets that depart decisively from Shakespeare as a source. This book focuses on the rich tradition of drawing from Hamlet in European cultures to produce new, independent works, which include Hamlet theatre, Hamlet ballet, Hamlet poetry, Hamlet fiction, Hamlet essays and Hamlet films. It examines how the myth of Hamlet has crossed back and forth over Europe’s linguistic borders for four hundred years, repeatedly reinvigorated by being bent to specific geo-political and cultural locations. The enquiries in this book show how, in the process of translation, adaptation and reinventing, Hamlet has become the common cultural currency of Europe.
“A brilliantly lively volume which recontextualizes Hamlet from Portuguese theatre, to Russian ballet, Hungarian poetry, Spanish exile writing, German philosophical criticism, Swedish political drama and radical multimedia experiment. This constantly surprising and inspiring volume demonstrates, if there were any doubt, that Shakespeare is still a vital part of our global intellectual currency and Hamlet is at the very centre of the modern European imagination.” (Prof. Karen Leeder, New College, University of Oxford)
