Subterranean Press and Hamlet's Father
I suspect quite a few of you have already seen the reaction to Subterranean Press's decision to print Orson Scott Card's novella, Hamlet's Father, reviewed here. To sum up, the novella, which I haven't read because I've stopped reading Card, rewrites Hamlet, saying that the tragedy happened because, to quote:Old King Hamlet was an inadequate king because he was gay, an evil person because he was gay, and, ultimately, a demonic and ghostly father of lies who convinces young Hamlet to exact imaginary revenge on innocent people. The old king was actually murdered by Horatio, in revenge for molesting him as a young boy-along with Laertes, and Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern, thereby turning all of them gay. We learn that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are now "as fusty and peculiar as an old married couple. I pity the woman who tries to wed her way into that house."
And here I thought Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were just dead.
Anyway. Subterranean Press has posted a response here, a response that led me to a couple of other comments on this novella. Publisher's Weekly called the work "anachronistic and absurd," and not in a good way, and even that "I love everything" reviewer Harriet Klausner appears to have been underwhelmed, although the Booklist reviewer appears to have enjoyed it.
And here I thought Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were just dead.
Anyway. Subterranean Press has posted a response here, a response that led me to a couple of other comments on this novella. Publisher's Weekly called the work "anachronistic and absurd," and not in a good way, and even that "I love everything" reviewer Harriet Klausner appears to have been underwhelmed, although the Booklist reviewer appears to have enjoyed it.