ABSTRACT
To celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, Hogarth Press commissioned a series of novels based on individual Shakespeare plays by popular contemporary writers. The publicity surrounding these new creative appropriations repeatedly stressed Shakespeare’s incorporation into the novelists’ pre-existing body of work: “All of us have talismanic texts that we have carried around and that carry us around. I have worked with The Winter’s Tale in many disguises for many years” (Jeanette Winterson); “ Macbeth is a story that is close to my heart because it tackles topics I’ve been dealing with since I started writing” (Jo Nesbo); “ Hamlet has long been a fascination of mine: murder, betrayal, revenge, deceit, madness – all my favourite things” (Gillian Flynn) (Vintage Press Release). But as seamless as the transition from Shakespearean play to contemporary novel is made to appear, this impression belies the antagonistic relationship with the original that has characterized the Shakespearean novel from its inception.
