What do you think?
Rate this book
The Prince of Denmark
Beginning at the end of the play, where the Norwegian prince Fortinbras takes over the empty throne of Denmark, it backtracks to the year of Hamlet's birth, and the great duel fought between his father King Amled and Fortinbras' father Prince Fortenbrasse.
Then re-examining the relationship between Hamlet and Ofelia, and probing the circumstances of Ofelia's mysterious suicide, the novel goes on to imagine the possibility of a different plot, that does not end with the prince's murder, one in which the conflicts and alliances between ancient Viking chivalry, Renaissance realpolitik and Christian forgiveness are dramatically explored.
Then re-examining the relationship between Hamlet and Ofelia, and probing the circumstances of Ofelia's mysterious suicide, the novel goes on to imagine the possibility of a different plot, that does not end with the prince's murder, one in which the conflicts and alliances between ancient Viking chivalry, Renaissance realpolitik and Christian forgiveness are dramatically explored.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2001
13 people want to read
About the author
Graham Holderness
61 books4 followersWriter and critic Graham Holderness has published over 40 books, many on Shakespeare, and hundreds of chapters and articles of criticism, theory and theology. He was one of the founders of British cultural materialism, and is acknowledged as a formative contributor to a number of branches of Shakespeare criticism and theory. He has published pioneering studies in Arabic adaptations of Shakespeare, culminating in The Arab Shakespeare Trilogy by Sulayman Al Bassam (Bloomsbury/Methuen Drama, 2014).
His more recent work has pioneered methods of critical-creative writing, exemplified by his innovative factual-fictional biography Nine Lives of William Shakespeare (Bloomsbury/Arden Shakespeare, 2011). Extending these methods, and published in 2014, are Tales from Shakespeare: Creative Collisions (Cambridge University Press, June 2014) and Re-writing Jesus: Christ in 20th Century Fiction and Film (Bloomsbury, November 2014). His latest book is The Faith of William Shakespeare (Lion Hudson, 2016).
He is also a novelist, poet and dramatist. Graham Holderness has published two Shakespearean novels: The Prince of Denmark (University of Hertfordshire Press, 2001), and the historical fantasy novel Black and Deep Desires: William Shakespeare Vampire Hunter (Top Hat Books, 2015). His poetry collection Craeft: poems from the Anglo-Saxon received a Poetry Book Society award in 2002; and his play Wholly Writ was in 2011 performed at Shakespeare’s Globe, and by Royal Shakespeare Company actors in Stratford-upon-Avon.
His more recent work has pioneered methods of critical-creative writing, exemplified by his innovative factual-fictional biography Nine Lives of William Shakespeare (Bloomsbury/Arden Shakespeare, 2011). Extending these methods, and published in 2014, are Tales from Shakespeare: Creative Collisions (Cambridge University Press, June 2014) and Re-writing Jesus: Christ in 20th Century Fiction and Film (Bloomsbury, November 2014). His latest book is The Faith of William Shakespeare (Lion Hudson, 2016).
He is also a novelist, poet and dramatist. Graham Holderness has published two Shakespearean novels: The Prince of Denmark (University of Hertfordshire Press, 2001), and the historical fantasy novel Black and Deep Desires: William Shakespeare Vampire Hunter (Top Hat Books, 2015). His poetry collection Craeft: poems from the Anglo-Saxon received a Poetry Book Society award in 2002; and his play Wholly Writ was in 2011 performed at Shakespeare’s Globe, and by Royal Shakespeare Company actors in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 22, 2025
4.5
Beasts die, kinsmen die:
man is mortal.
But a good man's name
lives for ever.
Beasts die, kinsmen die:
man is mortal.
But one thing lives:
the fame of a great deed'.
Beasts die, kinsmen die:
man is mortal.
But a good man's name
lives for ever.
Beasts die, kinsmen die:
man is mortal.
But one thing lives:
the fame of a great deed'.
Displaying 1 of 1 review