FROM THE PUBLISHER

Since bursting on the scene in the 1950s, multiple award-winner John Updike has proved himself to be that rare species of American writer, the popular "man of letters.'' Sophisticated, provocative, and compellingly readable, his books and short stories are such consistent bestsellers that waiting for "the latest Updike'' has become something of a literary tradition.

In this, his nineteenth novel, Updike reinvents the characters of Queen Gertrude and King Claudius of Denmark, the nefarious villains of Shakespeare's immortal tragedy Hamlet. Unfolding against the cruel, immutable traditions of medieval society, here is the untold story of a sweet and radiant young girl trapped in a loveless arranged marriage, who finally in middle age embarks on a passionate, perilous affair with her husband's younger brother. Capturing all the humanity of the lovers' impossible situation, Updike describes the agonizing dilemma of two essentially decent people whose desperate act of passion sets the stage for literature's most famous drama of revenge.

SYNOPSIS

John Updikes's nineteenth novel tells the story of Claudius and Gertrude, King and Queen of Denmark, before the action of Shakespeare's Hamlet begins.

FROM THE CRITICS

James Schiff - Book

In Gertrude and Claudius, Updike has penned a master tale, a slim and memorable volume that, like Voltaire's Candide, reveals the sparkling eloquence and genius of its author. Readers will find the novel an invigorating intertextual experience that may lead them back to their college Shakespeare text as well as to the video store for the the latest film adaptation.

Publishers Weekly

Precisely honed, buoyant with sly wit, masterful character analysis and astutely observed historical details, this tour de force by the protean Updike reimagines the circumstances leading to Shakepeare's Hamlet. To emphasize the ancient provenance of the Scandinavian legend, he identifies the main characters by the names they held in various versions of the story. Thus in Part I, the future king is a hero from Jutland called Horwendil; Feng is his brother; Amleth his son; and Corambis the old courtier who will die behind the arras. The one name that remains nearly constant is Geruthe/Gertrude, the queen, portrayed by Shakespeare as a cold conniver in her husband's murder. Sometimes accused of misogyny, Updike acquits himself of the charge here in his sympathetic depiction of her character from age 16, when she is reluctantly betrothed to the stolid, self-important warrior Horwendil; to age 47, when she is newly married to Feng/Fengon/Claudius. In Updike's revisionist imagination, Gertrude is intelligent and sensible, with a sweet-natured, radiant personality. She is an obedient daughter and a faithful, if unsatisfied, wife to her complacent husband until, feeling cheated of true happiness in the doldrums of middle age, she succumbs to the ardent pleas of his brother, who has been in love with her for many years. Updike details the irresistible sweep of their mutual passion and the mortal danger it entails with delicacy. Gertrude's loyalty to her husband and her royal duties, her initial resistance to adultery and her concern about her distant, sour, self-centered son contributes to a fully dimensional portrait. A constant theme is Gertrude's rueful acknowledgment of women's roles as pawns and chattels of their fathers and spouses. Updike also credits her with the metaphor for Shakespeare's seven stages of man: "We begin small, wax great, and shrivel, she thought." Claudius here is not an evil plotter, but a man driven to desperation when the king discovers the illicit liaison. Though he wears his knowledge lightly, Updike establishes the context of the time through details of social, cultural, intellectual and theological ideas. If the narrative seems a bit labored in Part Three, which immediately precedes the action of the play, the resolution is breathtaking: before the assembled court, Claudius is relieved and finally confident: "He had gotten away with it. All would be well." Enter Shakespeare. 75,000 first printing; BOMC main selection. (Feb.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Updike's latest is an odd but intriguing little novel that one suspects he had fun writing. It is a speculative piece exploring the relationship among Hamlet's mother, father, and uncle prior to the action of Shakespeare's play. Using details taken from early accounts of Hamlet, or Amleth, as he is called in the Historia Danica of Saxo Grammaticus, Updike constructs a tale that is part "romance"--"She lifted a finger to touch his fringed lips, to create there a tingle to mirror that which she had felt at the back of her neck"--and part psychological study--an examination of the motives that led to the betrayal and murder of King Hamlet. It offers not a justification of Gertrude's and Claudius's action but a possible explanation, and in the end Gertrude seems as much victim as perpetrator. Throughout it all, Prince Hamlet remains a minor if forebodingly sullen figure. This is by no means Updike's best work, but it is a fun read that will especially appeal to Shakespeare buffs and more serious-minded romance enthusiasts. For all public libraries and academic libraries seeking completeness in their Updike holdings. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/99.]--David W. Henderson, Eckerd Coll. Lib., St. Petersburg, FL Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

School Library Journal

YA-This engrossing prequel to Shakespeare's Hamlet is rife with relationship drama. Confidences between father and daughter, mother and son, husband and wife, and siblings and servants provide an archival view that stops at Hamlet's 30th birthday, where the Bard takes up his tale. Updike relates the action at a cinematic clip reminiscent of many of the recent Shakespeare-influenced movies. Characters speak with assured and eloquent tongues. Enjoyment of the titillating castle chatter is not hampered by the fancy Old English associated with inspirational texts. Updike's dialogue is piercing, witty, and provocative. Characters' motivations are revealed through discourse and actions that the author describes in a singsong and playful way. Scenes include adulterous exchanges and a murderous undertaking, and the language is sometimes explicit, mostly sublime, and consistently clever. Close attention must be paid, however, because the characters' names change with each major lifestyle progression, symbolizing renewal or evolution. As the king's brother, the title character is known as Feng, but called Fengon during his affair with his sister-in-law, the queen, and finally, after assuming the throne he emerges at his own behest as Claudius. Updike is as crafty with intrigue as this Denmark cast is with living in riotous times. Young adults who have read Hamlet will find Gertrude and Claudius insightful, and those who are first experiencing the kingdom of Elsinore may be prompted to read the play.-Karen Sokol, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

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