Adventures in Classic Readings Sponsored by the FOL's Ruth D. Bogen Memorial Fund

This reading group, facilitated by Dr. Laury Magnus, Professor of English, will feature great classic works -- ancient to contemporary -- as well as participatory reading out loud of selected passages. 

In honor of the Bard’s birthday, this month’s reading will be Hamlet by William Shakespeare. For this session, we will read up to Act III scene 1.

Hamlet was written by Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is his longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother. Hamlet is considered among the most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language, with a story capable of seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others. It is widely considered one of the greatest plays of all time.

Shakespeare scholars Bernice W. Kliman and James H. Lake have carried out the important task of not only bringing up to date the text of Hamlet as edited in the last century by the celebrated Shakespearean George Lyman Kittredge but also retaining its significant features. The editors' discerning analyses of performances by Mel Gibson, Kenneth Branagh, Michael Almereyda, and Simon Russell Beale drive home the point that Hamlet today remains alive but restless and unpredictable. It exemplifies Ben Johnson's Shakespeare, who '. . . was not of an age, but for all time!'

Copies of the book will be available at the Information Desk. All registrants will receive a complimentary copy of the book provided by the Friends of the Library’s Ruth D. Bogen Memorial Fund (while supplies last).