I think that Lunar Park is going on my reading list. For one, it’s written by Brett Easton Ellis, author of such classics as American Psycho, Less Than Zero, and The Rules of Attraction. But moreso for this paragraph of exalted praise, way down the article:



And yet, for all of the references to himself and his work, the shadow of another famous writer looms over Lunar Park: Shakespeare. To begin with, there are numerous nods to Hamlet in the story itself: the father’s ghost haunting the son wrapped in turmoil, Ellis wracked with remorse and near disintegration (not to mention the fact that Ellis and his family live on Elsinore Lane, and that local landmarks include the Fortinbras Mall and Horatio Park). And yet — with all of Lunar Park’s rich fantasy and horror elements — the Shakespearean character that looms the largest over Lunar Park isn’t Hamlet but is instead the magic-illusionist Prospero from Shakespeare’s last play The Tempest. Ellis — like Prospero — is ultimately the creator of the novel’s increasing chaos.

So for those of us out there that are keeping notes of “novels that have lots of Shakespeare bits”, this one might be a keeper. That is, if you’re into the dark and gory side of things. Ellis is not known for writing about puppies romping in fields of daisies.

I wrote about Justice O’Connor’s connections to Shakespeare, so it’s only fair that I blog this article about Supreme Court nominee John Roberts’ position on a few controversial(?) topics back in 1972 when he was in Catholic school.

“I would prefer to discuss Shakespeare’s double entendre … without a blonde giggling and blushing behind me,” he wrote on the subject of women in the (then all boys) classroom.

I wonder if Justice O’Connor was more of a giggler, or a blusher.

When asked about my favorite plays I tend to mention Hamlet and HAIR in the same sentence. Bonus points if you already knew that there’s loads of Shakespeare references in HAIR anyway :).

So you just know that I’m going to post this link about a musical version of “Two Gentlemen of Verona” written by John Guare (“The House of Blue Leaves) and Galt McDermott (“HAIR”). It was actually written back in 1971 and it’s come back to New York.

Here’s trivia. The most obvious Shakespeare reference in HAIR is the whole “What a piece of work is man” song, which is lifted verbatim from Hamlet. Ok, not verbatim, since it starts out with “I have of late…” which is technically in the middle of the speech. Additionally, just before “Let the Sunshine In” the chorus is singing “The rest is silence….the rest is silence…..” over and over again, also from Hamlet.

There’s a really good third reference as well, and it’s not from Hamlet. Who knows it?

Here’s a fun one. If you’re involved in any upcoming Shakespeare performances and need some tips on costume creation/maintenance, Sarah Lorraine Goodman has her Elizabethan Costumer’s Guide to Home Depot for you. I have to admit I have no knowledge of the topic at all so I don’t know if her advice is any good, but I think it’s a neat connection to make. I especially love the idea of a bunch of people in costume wandering the aisles looking for plastic zip ties because their corsets need reboning.

I’m not quite sure why this article teaches the basics of investing using Shakespeare characters, but it does. In particular the story is Shakespeare gathering his characters and informing them that he was hoping his latest stock would go up and it didn’t. So they all chime in on other factors that might be at work.