“All the World’s a Stage...”: Shakespeare an A llusions in Hamlet, Revenge! by Michael Innes Cover Image

„Świat cały jest sceną…”. Szekspirowskie aluzje w „Hamlet, Revenge!” Michaela Innesa
“All the World’s a Stage...”: Shakespeare an A llusions in Hamlet, Revenge! by Michael Innes

Author(s): Joanna Kokot
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Theory of Literature, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego
Keywords: literary allusions; intertextuality; Michael Innes; detective novel; William Shakespeare

Summary/Abstract: While some of the golden age detective novels tend to rather concentrate on the social background or the psychology of the characters, thus utilizing the novel of manners conventions (Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Margery Allingham, Martha Grimes), others focus on the criminal puzzle itself, presenting it as a challenge both to the fictional detective and to the reader. This is the case with Michael Innes’s novel, where the context of the murder is a performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, while quotations from this and other Shakespeare’s plays function as clues. The paper explores both the utilization of Shakespeare’s play as a code to decipher the puzzle, as well as the theatralization of the presented reality itself, turning — even as viewed from the internal perspective — into a stage on which a drama is played.

  • Issue Year: 28/2022
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 35-50
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish