After viewing The King on Netflix (and being rather underwhelmed), I sought out Harold Bloom's book, Falstaff: Give Me Life. It was thoroughly enjoyable, as expected of Bloom's work. What was surprising was the number of times that the author referred to Hamlet within the book. I had not thought about the numerous parallels between the characters, but Bloom's analysis gave plenty of material for consideration. Whether one is a fan of Hamlet, the Henriad (or Falstaffiad, as the author calls it), or just a general fan of Shakespeare, the short book is a very pleasurable read.
The second recent encounter with Hamlet was less expected. The local art museum, the Memorial Art Gallery, is hosting an exhibit entitled "Alphonse Mucha: Master of Art Nouveau." A frequent visitor to the gallery, I stopped by to take a look at Mucha's work. Admittedly, I was entirely unfamiliar with the artist, so it was a new and pleasant experience. I learned that Mucha had a working relationship with actress Sarah Bernhardt, who portrayed Hamlet on stage. Included among Mucha's artwork was a photograph of Bernhardt in her famous role. It was very cool to see Hamlet making an appearance in a gallery exhibit (although I'm not sure how I might have reacted to another "trouser job" on stage).
Recent excursions to bookstores have added a couple of Hamlet-related titles to my collection. At some point they will move to the top of the "to read" list, and posts will follow here. Hopefully the title of those posts will not mirror this one!
