{"id":1016,"date":"2020-06-27T09:14:50","date_gmt":"2020-06-27T14:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/w1.loganberrybooks.com\/blog\/?p=1016"},"modified":"2020-06-26T16:37:25","modified_gmt":"2020-06-26T21:37:25","slug":"2020-and-1596-how-we-are-still-finding-links-to-shakespeare-through-maggie-ofarrells-new-novel-hamnet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/w1.loganberrybooks.com\/blog\/2020-and-1596-how-we-are-still-finding-links-to-shakespeare-through-maggie-ofarrells-new-novel-hamnet\/","title":{"rendered":"2020 and 1596: How We Are (Still) Finding Links to Shakespeare through Maggie O\u2019Farrell\u2019s new novel “Hamnet”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Yet another way Shakespeare has infiltrated his way into our contemporary realities comes in the form of Maggie O\u2019Farrell\u2019s newest novel, Hamnet<\/em>. While O\u2019Farrell could not have predicted the current pandemic in which we find ourselves, the novel, with its universal themes of grief, growth, and healing have been joined with those of sudden loss and fear as they relate to a public health crisis. Shakespeare\u2019s was the Black Death, or the \u201cpestilence,\u201d as it was more commonly referred to at the time, and O\u2019Farrell takes us through the lives of the Shakespeare household before and after the death of his son, Hamnet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Farrell, in conversation with author Jen Campbell in early May, says that in the biographies she\u2019s read of perhaps the greatest playwright to ever live, Shakespeare\u2019s only son is mentioned once or twice per volume, often followed by statistics of the likelihood that children would fall ill and die due to the plague or for other reasons. As if they (the parents) should not have been surprised by the death of their child. What is more curious is that, in all the historical and biographical accounts of Shakespeare\u2019s life, no one really knows what he was like. This can also be said of his wife, Anne Hathaway. She, however, has faced much more criticism, often painted as shrewd, cold, or unlovable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But O\u2019Farrell changes this in her newest novel by doing a few things. First, the name \u201cWilliam Shakespeare\u201d in any iteration is never uttered. No \u201cWill\u201d or \u201cMr. Shakespeare\u201d touches the narrative. Then, he becomes a marginal character, cast to the side; though, as Campbell aptly comments, he still has presence like a \u201cshadow\u201d looming over the text. He is only referred to as \u201cthe husband,\u201d \u201cthe father,\u201d \u201cthe tutor,\u201d or \u201cthe son.\u201d This gives room for those often sidelined or stereotyped to come to the fore: most significantly, Anne Hathaway, or, as O\u2019Farrell suspects is her real name, Agnes (pronounced then like \u201ca\u00f1-es\u201d). O\u2019Farrell brilliantly writes Agnes as the novel\u2019s center and guide, where all would be lost without her. She is other-worldly and remarkable, perceptive to a level that leads others to often misunderstand her. Just like Agnes\u2019 husband, the reader is immediately intrigued by and infatuated with her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The names \u201cHamnet\u201d and \u201cHamlet\u201d in Shakespeare\u2019s time were also interchangeable. O\u2019Farrell has said that her mission in writing this novel is to investigate why \u201cthe father\u201d was compelled to name his most famous play after his son four years after his death. This story is so poignant because, just as O\u2019Farrell explores the love that blossoms between Agnes and \u201cthe tutor,\u201d how it is sweet and sunny and strong, the moments of grief are difficult, dark. The duality between loss and love has the reader aching, feeling both emotions fully throughout their body. And, since this story is based in history, the reader knows what will happen, that the son will die and the play Hamlet<\/em> will be written some years after. But the ways O\u2019Farrell builds tension and grounds the story in the characters\u2019 reactions is extraordinary. Turning the final page\u2014I\u2019m serious\u2014I gasped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many have claimed this is a modern masterpiece. I would even go so far as to say that this is Maggie O\u2019Farrell\u2019s magnum opus. There is much I haven\u2019t touched on that seemed redundant to review, but I will quickly list a couple qualities I thought remarkable as well: O\u2019Farrell\u2019s superb prose, the immersive imagery, and the significance of nature. I will sit with the Shakespeare family in Stratford for a long time. O\u2019Farrell\u2019s characters are delicately drawn and full, made fuller because the story does not shy away from describing what grief does to the body, to the mind, to familial bonds, and how it colors happiness, in memory and future moments. Whether in the context of the Black Death or the current pandemic, O’Farrell has created for us another connection to Shakespeare through themes unbound to time, of tragedy and recovery. Moving and resounding, Hamnet<\/em> is a triumph. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set to come out July 21, 2020. We already have a bunch of preorders, give us a call or email us<\/a> to add your name to the list! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yet another way Shakespeare has infiltrated his way into our contemporary realities comes in the form of Maggie O\u2019Farrell\u2019s newest novel, Hamnet. While O\u2019Farrell could not have predicted the current pandemic in which we find ourselves, the novel, with its universal … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2959,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[94,92,73,75],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/w1.loganberrybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/w1.loganberrybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/w1.loganberrybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w1.loganberrybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2959"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w1.loganberrybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1016"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/w1.loganberrybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1023,"href":"http:\/\/w1.loganberrybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016\/revisions\/1023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/w1.loganberrybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w1.loganberrybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w1.loganberrybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}