Shakespeare Revisited
Explore Shakespeare like never before with Shakespeare Revisited—a curated reading list of inventive retellings and mysteries. Dive into John Updike's *Gertrude and Claudius*, Alan R. Gordon's *Thirteenth Night*, and more reimaginings of the Bard's iconic plays and characters.
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Gertrude and Claudius
by John Updike
Gertrude and Claudius are the “villains” of Hamlet: he the killer of Hamlet’s father and usurper of the Danish throne; she his lusty consort, who marries Claudius before her late husband’s body is cold. But in this imaginative “prequel” to the play, John Updike makes a case for the royal couple that Shakespeare only hinted at. Gertrude and Claudius are seen afresh against a background of fond intentions and family dysfunction, on a stage darkened by the ominous shadow of a sullen, erratic, disaffected prince. “I hoped to keep the texture light,” Updike said of this novel, “to move from the mists of Scandinavian legend into the daylight atmosphere of the Globe. I sought to narrate the romance that preceded the tragedy.”
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Thirteenth Night
by Alan R. Gordon
Fifteen years after the events in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Feste returns to Illyria to investigate the death of Duke Orsino.
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The Merchant of Venice & The Taming of the Shrew & Troilus and Cressida (The Shakespeare Novels)
No summary available.
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Romeo and Juliet & As You Like It & A Midsummer Night's Dream (The Shakespeare Novels)
No summary available.
