海角大神

When she was a teenager, Irish-born novelist Maggie O鈥橣arrell became smitten with the works of William Shakespeare. While studying 鈥淗amlet,鈥� she was haunted by the brief life of the playwright鈥檚 only son, Hamnet, who died at age 11, possibly of bubonic plague. In 鈥淗amnet,鈥� she fashions a historical novel around the boy, whose death may have impelled his father to write 鈥淗amlet.鈥� Monitor correspondent Peter Tonguette spoke with Ms. O鈥橣arrell about her fictionalized portrait of the Shakespeare family.

Q:聽How as a teenager did you become interested in Shakespeare?

We were studying the play 鈥淗amlet.鈥� It really got under my skin, both the play and the character. 鈥淗amlet鈥� does appeal to the adolescent, certainly the kind of adolescent I was 鈥� slightly more melancholic, reflective, likes to wear black. I was fortunate to have this absolutely fantastic English teacher, and he mentioned in passing that Shakespeare had a son called Hamnet who had died several years before [鈥淗amlet鈥漖 was written. It just really struck me at the time.

Q:聽Are Hamnet and Hamlet two versions of the same name?聽

Absolutely. Spelling in Elizabethan times was a lot less stable than it is now. There are many examples in the Stratford parish registers of children who were born as Hamnet or Hamlet, and were buried as Hamlet or Hamnet, the other way around.

Q:聽How did Hamnet鈥檚 death influence Shakespeare鈥檚 work?

I鈥檝e always felt that Hamnet has never been given his due. You read these big biographies, and the boy gets maybe two mentions. His death is always wrapped up in statistics about how common it was for children to die in the 16th century. I wanted to give him a voice, and to give dignity to his death. Also, Hamnet was important. Without him, we wouldn鈥檛 have one of the greatest tragedies ever written. We probably wouldn鈥檛 have 鈥淭welfth Night,鈥� which is about boy-and-girl twins who are separated and they each think the other is dead and then they are magically reunited. [Hamnet had a twin sister, Judith, and an older sister, Susanna, who each lived well into old age.]

Q:聽How long did you work on the novel?

I made a pass at it a few times 鈥� three times, actually. I have written three books since [starting] 鈥淗amnet.鈥� I realized that one of the things stopping me was that I was unable to write the book while my son still hadn鈥檛 reached the age of 11. I knew that I had to put myself inside the mind of a parent who sits at the son鈥檚 bedside as he is dying.

Q:聽As a writer, how do you put yourself in the shoes of Hamnet鈥檚 grieving parents?

I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 a huge leap between love and loss, actually. I think loss is the sort of inverse of loving somebody, isn鈥檛 it? It鈥檚 fear of what your life would be like without this person, and I think there is no more visceral fear for a parent, certainly, than losing your child. You want your children to outlive you, don鈥檛 you? It鈥檚 a very, very basic urge that all of us have.

Q:聽Will you return to the terrain of Shakespeare again?

I certainly have missed him an awful lot, I have to say. It took me a really long time to take down all my maps and diagrams and photographs. ... I think Shakespeare鈥檚 domestic life has been so minimized and so silenced for so long that I do find it a very rich, imaginative territory.

Q:聽Do you read his plays differently now?

I think I always have, in a sense, because I was fortunate enough to have this brilliant and inspirational English teacher.