Versions of Hamlet: Poetic Economy on Page and Stage

Versions of Hamlet: Poetic Economy on Page and Stage takes a fresh look at an old textual problem: Instead of arguing the case for one of the three early Hamlet texts as “the one”, the book presents a new analytical approach which allows us to see different Hamlet versions and the interpretations emerging from them side by side. Using a corpus which not only includes the three early printed texts but also 24 stage versions of the play, the book introduces an analytical method based on an assumption voiced by writers through the ages, namely that every part of a literary work belongs to a functional whole. Apart from making the relation between textual alterations and changing interpretations of the Hamlet texts visible, this study is the first to present a systematic overview of this principle of “poetic economy”.